


More Than A Game

by coolnool



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, Slow Build, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, in the killing game still, not really any smut, this was my first DR fanfic so don't judge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2019-06-26 08:01:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 33,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15659100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coolnool/pseuds/coolnool
Summary: Shuichi Saihara wasn't fond of Kokichi Ouma at first, but a killing game trapped in a school with fifteen other people can change someone's mind. A lot.Though Monokuma says the only way out of the Ultimate Academy is to murder a classmate, perhaps... there is another way?SPOILERS!!! For Danganronpa v3 and maybe Danganronpa 1





	1. Sleeping in a Locker

Saihara's POV:  
"Gah!" I stumble out of a cold, dark, and cramped area, falling to the floor while my hat obscures my face. My whole body aches with pain, as if nothing feels right. Wincing in pain, I open my eyes, unsure of what I would see. I meet my eyes with a dark-colored floor, the cold tile pressing up against my cheek. Pulling up a bit, I look up as bright green light burns into my retinas. Is this... a classroom? 

Where am I? I look around the room, and suddenly my vision clears to see a girl with blond hair and a light pinkish shirt with a white backpack only. I speak to the only other person in the room. "H-Huh? Where am I?"

"I was wondering the same thing." The other girl looks at me warmly as I get up and fix my cap. "I don't know either..." 

"Well, this is certainly an odd classroom..." I mutter.

"Yeah. This is such a weird place. Maybe we can find out somehow where we are," the other girl answers. She seems nice enough to be a friend. 

"Mm-hmm," I agree. "Oh wait! I didn't introduce myself yet. I'm Shuichi Saihara."

"I forgot too!" The girl smiles kindly and says, "My name's Kaede Akamatsu. I'm the Ultimate Pianist."

"Okay then, Kaede," I say, pronouncing her name clearly. It kind of sounds like "kayayday". That's kind of funny. I might call her that if I- no, when I get to know her better. 

"We should go see the rest of this place," Kaede advises. "There might be other people here, like us."

"Yes, there should be others." I can't help but imagine if it were only me and Kaede here. There has to be more of us.

We both head towards the door, but suddenly, I hear another sound interrupt our footsteps, and it's not coming from either of us. I stop, and so does Kaede, as we face who's, or more, what's in front of us.

"Rise and shine, ursine!" What an odd catchphrase, I think as five... teddy bears? of multiple colors suddenly appear in front of us in the doorway.

"AHHHHH!" Kaede squeals really loudly and jumps back in shock. Was it really that scary? I guess she just gets more surprised then I do. 

"A... teddy bear?" I ask. One bear was pink, one was red, one was blue, one was yellow, and one was green.

"N-No, it has to be a monster! You can freak out about this!" Kaede says, eyes wide open as she stares at me and back at the teddy bears. 

"Gahhhhh!" the blue bear suddenly yells loudly, putting his hands to his face.

"I don't think she was talking to you," says the pink bear softly. 

"That's so mean... you humans are the real monsters for calling us monsters!" exclaims the red bear. His cheeks turn a little pink. Is that even possible- bears can blush?

"Although, if we are monsters, at least we're pretty ones," the pink bear mutters.

"Yeah! I'm glad I got born with these looks. I definitely won the genetic lottery!" replies the red bear.

"H-Huh?" Kaede says. She still seems confused in our current predicament. "W-What's happening? Aren't you guys... just some stuffed animals? So how... How are you talking?"

"We're not Monokubs! We're the stuff animals!" the blue bear shouts.

"Psst... Monokid, youse got your lines wrong," says the yellow bear.

"Mono...kubs?" Kaede asks.

"Oh! You've heard of us?" asks the pink bear.

"N-No! Of course not! You're walking, talking stuffed animals!" As soon as Kaede said that, the bears started looking at each other and...

"Yayyyy! It worked!" the red bear exclaims happily, hands in the air.

"What worked?" I ask. They have some kind of plan going on... there has to be.

"Ah, nothing you need to know," one bear says. They continue talking, and we learn their names in the process, but Kaede stops them.

"I have so many questions. First of all, where are we? This... looks like a school," Kaede asks.

"Oh, this? This is the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles," the red bear, Monotaro, explains.

"Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles?" Kaede asks. "I've never heard of that."

"Of course not," says Monophanie. "It was made for you sixteen cretins."

Sixteen? So we were right... there is more of us.

"Anyway, there fourteen other Ultimates that are in the school. I recommend you go find them, because youse'll be doing an activity later," the bear named Monosuke says.

"An activity-?" I start to ask, but the bears interrupt me by leaving.

"So long! Bear well!" the exclaim in unison as they disappear.

"I...I still had so many questions..." Kaede mutters.

"Well, I hope we get them answered as we find the other students," I say. "Let's get going." Those bears took up a lot of our time.

"Wait." Kaede stops me. "They said we're all Ultimates, so you must be one too."

Oh, right. I never told Kaede my Ultimate talent. "People call me the Ultimate Detective, but I'm still in training."

"Oh, okay! I've already told you mine, so I guess we should get going." Kaede gives me a warm smile as she walks through the doorway, while I follow behind.

"Yeah. Let's go."


	2. Not Boring

Ouma's POV:  
"Ah, um, my name is really K1-B0, but you can just call me Kiibo," says a weird-looking robot guy. Why is he here? He's a robot!

"What? Are you supposed to be a robot? This place is for Ultimates, not broken machines," I reply as I cross my arms.

"H-Hey! Please don't be robophobic! I'm a highly advanced robot, created by Professor Idabashi-"

"Can I at least look at your body a little?" I ask.

"You know what? I think the best idea is to look for some other Ultimates. It's no use just joking around with you the whole time." Kiibo starts to walk to the door, but no way am I letting him leave alone!

"Heyyy! Wait for meeee!" I call childishly as I chase Kiibo.

"Please stop! Don't come any closer!" Kiibo says, pointing his finger at me. Just then, I hear the door open, and two people come in. A girl and a boy. In a relationship? Probably not.

The girl has blond hair and bright clothing. I can already tell she's optimistic type by the bright smile on her face.

The boy, on the other hand, has a hat covering part of his face. He... He's dressed so... plain. Why would he do that? It's like he wants to cover up the fact that he's actually really, really... cute...? His cap covers those eyes of his, and the dark colors of his uniform make it seem like he wants to blend in with the colors of the school. Of course, I can't tell him that, though. Can I?

I'm so busy looking at the other kid when I can start to feel Kiibo's unblinking stare upon me. Shit! Why did I do that? Shouldn't he have a blinking feature at the least? I look back to Kiibo and plant a smile on my face yet again. "C'mooooon! Wait up! Lemme touch your body a little! I've always wanted to be friends with a robot!" Good, now the other two know he's a robot.

"What? He's a robot?" the first girl asks in confusion. Man, people are stupid! You can obviously tell by his so-called 'uniform'.

"Wh-What is it? Are you another robophobe?" Kiibo asks nervously. "I have a recording function. If you make any robophobic remarks, I will see you in court."

In court? Where are they gonna find a court in such a weird place like this?

The first girl is still so surprised that Kiibo is a robot. The other guy isn't saying anything. He's a cute- I mean smart guy.  He wouldn't say all this stuff the first girl is saying and seem stupid. Way better then the other girl too. 

"I'm not just any old robot! I'm the Ultimate Robot!" Kiibo explains to the other two. It's then when I realize I need to tell them my Ultimate Talent too. Kiibo can't hog the spotlight.

"That's not faaaaair! You can't be the only one who gets to show off? I'll introduce myself too!" I say quickly.

"Oh, um... go ahead," says the blond girl. I can already tell she doesn't like me. Oh well. At least the other guy seems okay with me!

"I'm Kokichi Ouma, the Ultimate Supreme Leader!" I declare.

The first girl seems really confused at what I said. "A robot... and a supreme leader?" she mutters to herself. I guess I can't blame her. 

"Ouma, huh?" I can barely hear the other boy, but he has a bright tone to his voice. I could've sworn he smiled as he said, "That's a nice name." He seems like such a serious guy. So why did he make the small little smile for me?

I've never received a compliment as genuine as that either, so I decide to ignore it for the time-being. "And, um, I learned that a robot's breath smells like gasoline. The hard way." Ugh, why did I say 'um' at the beginning?

"What?! I'm run by electricity! Don't be so rude!" Kiibo remarks.

"Nishishi... just kidding."

"That's not funny."

"Well, of course not. You don't have human humor to begin with!"

We continue to argue about the most dumbest topics, me obviously winning, until...

"Hey, do robots have dicks?"

"Please don't ask such ridiculous questions!" Kiibo says in annoyance. I sneak a glance at the other boy (who still hasn't introduced himself). The guy is giggling! At my joke! He tries to hide it, but he can't help it. He must think I'm really  funny. 

Of course, that other girl had to ruin the fun. "Hey, Kokichi, I don't really understand your Ultimate Supreme Leader talent..."

"Oh, I'm just the supreme leader of an evil secret organization, that's all." I make it sound casual with a shrug, to make it  seem like it's a not a big deal to me. "I have to admit, it's pretty impressive. My organization has over 10,000 members!"

"Seriously?" the girl asks, not knowing whether to believe me or not. Either way, I decide to give her the answer.

"Who knows? I am a liar, after all."

"Huh? So you were lying about that last part just now?" the girl asks.

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me?"

"Jeez! So were you lying or not?" the girl says, starting to get a bit annoyed.

"Nishishi... I'm not telling ya."

"Just avoid him. He's a suspicious person. More then I am, anyway," Kiibo says while letting out a sigh.

"Well that's because you're not a person, silly."

"Grgh...!" Kiibo doesn't know what to say.

"Don't mind him. Anyway, what's your names? I'm not giving my name away for free, of course."

The first girl seems a bit confused, so the other guy says his name first. "Saihara."

"Sai...hara?"

"I-I-I-I mean Shuichi! Shuichi Saihara! I don't know why I told you my last name first... I'm also the Ultimate... Ultimate Detective!" Detective, eh? Now that he's closer to me, I can finally see his eyes clearly. They were a beautiful mix between blue, green and gray. And... he has really thick eyelashes. Almost like a girl. Not like gender mattered anyway.

"Okay, what the heck are you all doing? Is this something I don't know about?" the other girl asks. Curse her being around Saihara so much! "You guys were doing this staring thing... like talking to each other with your eyes."

"Oh, ah, um, sorry," Saihara says. "I guess I'm just not feeling well.."

"I don't blame you... In a place like this, anyone could be feeling under the weather.  By the way... My name's Kaede. Kaede Akamatsu, and I'm the Ultimate Pianist!" she explains with a smile on her face.

Music... yeah, it seemed pretty obvious based on her getup. Hairpins with music notes, music notes all over her skirt... Where do you even get clothes like that?

"Oh well." I let out an exaggerated sigh as I continue. "You guys are all boring." Then I look at Saihara with a small smile on my face. 

"Well, maybe not all of you guys." Leaving it at that, I decide not to say anything else. I leave the room, looking for other Ultimates.


	3. Rules of The Game

Saihara's POV:  
For the next hour or so, we continue to meet up with the other fourteen Ultimates in different areas of the school. There was Kokichi Ouma and Kiibo, Tsumugi, the Ultimate Cosplayer, Himiko, the Ultimate Magician (though she claims magic is real), and Korekiyo, the Ultimate Anthropologist. Korekiyo struck me as a weird person, as he said that he finds beauty in pretty much everything, even horrible things. 

There was also Tenko, the Ultimate Aikido Master, Miu, a really salty person who was the Ultimate Inventor, and Kirumi, the Ultimate Maid. There was also another guy who said he went to prison named Ryoma. I remember reading about him in a newspaper article as the Ultimate Tennis Pro, but he claims that part of him is gone. 

Rantaro Amami was another guy who interested me. He said he didn't know what his Ultimate Talent was, but he seemed really casual about it and shrugged it off. Maki claimed she was the Ultimate Child Caregiver, but she acted more like a loner then a babysitter. Kaito was a really energetic dude, the Ultimate Astronaut, while Gonta was the Ultimate Entomologist. Angie claimed that she was a type of oracle to her god named Atua, and was the Ultimate Artist.  And then, there was Kaede and me.

Even though there was so many people to keep track of, I had my mind on something else.Through the whole time, I can't get Ouma's words out of my head.

"Well, maybe not all of you guys."

What did he mean by that? Did he mean what I thought he meant... I'm not boring? He was looking straight at me too. He must have. Or am I overthinking this again like usual? Ugh!

We're in such a weird place, with such weird people, and I'm thinking about what Ouma said. I have better things to think about... don't I? So then... why can't I get those purple eyes out of my head?

Ding dong, bing bong!

"Huh? Was that the bell?" Kaede asks. I look around to try to see where the sound is coming from. Those monitors in every room... it's coming from there!

"Kaede, look! The monitor!" I exclaim as I point to it. Just then, on the monitor the five teddy bears from before (the Monokubs, as I remember) appear on the screen. They're all sitting on a long red couch with little toys on the floor. Wait- those aren't toys! Those are small little dolls made to look like... us??? Mine is dangling from a string, with Kaede on the left and Angie on the right. I can also see Kokichi's facing the left and dangling from a string near the left arm of the couch.

Wait, why was I looking for his?! 

I think Kaede was right. I might be feeling a bit sick. At least, I've been acting a whole lot differently too. I try not to think about being sick, but it quickly gets replaced by the thought of Kokichi. No, not that either... I try to not think about it as I listen to the announcement.

"Hi! Thanks for bear-ing with us!" says Monophanie.

"Kept you bastards waiting, huh?" Monokid says.

"Everyone, please make your way to the gym, please," Monotaro says. The gym? 

"The opening ceremony is about to begin!" says Monokid. Why is there an opening ceremony?

"Phew! We finally finished our preparations!" Monotaro says with a sigh.

"You do realise you said your lines backward again, right?" Monosuke points out.

Gosh... these Monokubs are the reason this is taking so long.

"So long! Bear-well!" they say as the monitor turns off. Gym? Opening ceremony? Unsure of what to do, I turn to Kaede for help.

"Kaede, what should we do?"

"What should we do? Go, of course," Kaede replies. Even I can tell she sounds a little nervous. Going to this weird new school... with weird teddy bears dictating what we do, the last thing someone can feel here is happy. "Everyone else is probably doing the same thing."

"True... but I'm a little worried about this." *Little* was an understatement, but I didn't want Kaede to know that, even though she probably feels the same way.

We walk out of the room we were in before, and head to the gym. It turns out it was very close by, so we went inside, and met eyes with 14 other Ultimates.

Everyone's already here? Were we really that slow?

The first person that spoke was Kirumi Tojou, the Ultimate Maid, as I recall. "All 16 of us have gathered."

"Hmm, it's pretty spectacular seeing all 16 of us Ultimates gathered together," says the space guy, Kaito.

"Kehehe... You may not be able to be easygoing for much longer..." says the guy with a mask covering part of his nose and his mouth. I remember he asked us to call him Kiyo. He seems to suspect what's going to happen. 

"In this situation, there's no use thinking about things. So eventually, Tsumugi stopped thinking," Tsumugi says.

"Nyeeeh... what's gonna happen to us? I bet it'll be a big pain..." Himiko mumbles.

"Hmmm..." Tenko starts to say. I couldn't help but notice when I first met her that she is really clingy to Himiko. She didn't even let me talk to her properly.

"What? What are you looking at?" asks Himiko.

"Um... Himiko! You can use amazing powers and all that, right? Cuz you're a psychic and stuff!" She actually believed that?

"I'm a mage, not a psychic," Himiko mumbles.

"Whoooa! That's so cool! I definitely want to incorporate that into Neo-Aikido! How did you get your amazing powers and stuff?"

"Nyeh, it's too tiring to explain..." Probably since it's not true.

"You seem pretty lazy," Kaede tells Himiko.

"Guys..." I start to say. "I think we should keep quiet. Knowing how we're trapped in this school, danger could strike at any time."

"D-Don't say that... I'm so scared... I don't know what to do..." Ouma says, making a face to go with it.

"Don't worry! Atua will protect us!" says Angie with enthusiasm.

"Phew! Thank goodness!" Ouma says happily, but I can hear that but or sarcasm in his tone. 

"Is your brain full of weeds or something? I'll whack 'em outta that skull of yours!" says Miu.

"Don't worry about it!" says Kaito. "Just leave it to me! If those teddy bears come back again, I'll kick all their asses!"

I'm sure they're prepared for a situation like that...

"Hm? What that?" Gonta asks. He looks up at the sky.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Ryoma asks.

"Listen... Hear that?" When I try to hear for whatever Gonta was talking about, I hear a weird rumbling noise. It sounds like some kind of machinery.

"Ah, I think I hear it. It sounds like the engine in some robot anime-"

Suddenly, before Tsumugi can finish, a bunch of robots jump out from nowhere. And easily enough, they were driven by the Monokubs.

 

"Yoo-hoo! Rise and shine, ursine!" they say in unison.

"Aaaaaaah!" Tsumugi yells out in terror.

"Everyone, behind Gonta!"

"Wh-What the heck are these monsters?!" Tenko yells.

"Whoooooaaaa! So cooooool!" I can't help but smile a bit at what Kokichi said. How does he do that? How does he make me, a usually serious person, smile in the most serious situations? Didn't I just meet him less then an hour ago?

"Shuichi, why are you smiling?" asks Kaede.

"Oh, ah, I-I was... just thinking of something funny," I mutter, but she could barely hear me either way because of the loud noises coming from the other machines.

The Monokubs then explain that the huge robot machines are called Exisals, highly motivational and functional machines only they can use.

"Hm, did someone say they would 'kick all their asses?'" Maki says, looking directly at Kaito.

"Wh-What the hell? No one- Nobody told me about these!" Kaito says, eyes wide in fear.

"Alright, chill out, no need to panic... We're probably in no need of danger," Rantaro says in a comforting tone. "If they wanted to kill us, they would've done so by now."

With that, Rantaro casually walked up to the Exisals. "So, what do you want from us? You clearly want something from us, that's what the guns are for, right?" he asks. "Let me guess. You're gonna force us to do something, and if we don't, we'll get hurt. Well, you have our attention. So what do you want?"

"Huh. Well, aren't you a wise guy?" says one of the bears. I can't recognize the voice, so I don't know which one.

"I'll start us off! Listen up! Here's what I want you punkasses to do..." says what I think is Monokid. "...Hahhhh! My heart's goin' 100 miles an hour! I'm going to say it! You ready?"

Oh no, that's not good at all...

"Hell yeah! It's a-"

"KILLING-GAME," says an unrecognizable voice, most likely Monodam.

A killing game?

"...What?" Kaede says in confusion.

"M-M-Monodam! How dare you steal my thunder!" Monokid yells. Those bears are no use at all...

"W-Wait a second. What did you say?" Tenko asks with a nervous smile.

"If I heard him correctly..." Kiibo starts.

"KILLING-GAME."

"Oh! He said it again!" Monotaro says from the red Exisal.

Suddenly all the Monokubs get into a huge fight over why Monodam has to end Monokid's sentence. Everyone wants to understand why we're being forced to be in a killing game, but all their fighting is stopping them from answering us.

"Man, are they really going to get it in front of us?" Miu asks.

"Don't worry. Atua is watching over us," Angie says.

"In a situation like this, is he just going to watch?!" Tsumugi exclaims.

"Either way, it's too dangerous!" Kiibo says. "We need to get out of here or else-"

"Now now now..." says a high-pitched and squeaky voice. No one knows where it's coming from, but it's definitely not one of us, and I don't think it's a Monokub either.

"What?" Kaede says.

"My cute little cubs... You gotta knock off this awful fighting."

"Oh! That voice!" Monophanie says in surprise, apparently recognizing it. 

"Father! Father, are you there?" Monotaro asks.

Father?!

"Papa Kuma! Papa Kumaaaaaa!" Monokid says loudly.

"Daddy?! Where are you, Daddy?"

Click.

At that moment, all the lights in the gymnasium suddenly switched off. When they turn back on, a teddy bear, bigger then the Monokubs, and half black, half white, suddenly flies out of nowhere and floats down next to the microphone.

 

The first thing he says is, "I am the god of this new world!"

What an odd thing to say.

"...and the headmaster of the Ultimate Academy!"

Even worse.

"The one... the only... Monokuma! Nice to meetcha!" 

"Wh-What's going on? What is this?" Kaede asks in disbelief.

"Another teddy bear appeared..."

"Yes, but that's no ordinary teddy bear..." Korekiyo says as he fixes his hat. "I can see it... despair and madness circling around the cursed thing."

After this so-called Monokuma explains that he's not a teddy bear, he's Monokuma, Kiibo starts to theorise that he's a robot with an AI. But then Rantaro gets to the main point.

"Well, that may be so, but I'm worried about that killing game you mentioned. What exactly does that mean?" So he was worried just like the rest of us. But despite that, Rantaro seemed to be eerily calm as he spoke.

"Puhuhuhuhuhu..." Monokuma says. "I want you guys to participate in a killing game."

"Wait- what? I thought we were all friends!" Tenko says. Yeah right, she hates half of us just because we're "degenerate males".

"Nope. Who said you were friends? You're not. You're enemies out to kill each other," Monokuma says with a grin.

"E-Enemies?" I say. No. No, this can't be right. But deep down, I know it must be. I don't want to die yet! Unless I was one of the survivors... but knowing myself, I'll be one of the first to get killed.

He then explains the rules, which at the least made me feel less confused. Basically, if three or more people find a body, a body discovery announcement will be broadcasted. Everyone investigates to see who the culprit is, and then there's a class trial. Once everyone decides on the culprit, they vote for the culprit, and if we're right, the culprit gets executed. If we're wrong, everyone else dies and the culprit gets to graduate. It continues until there's only two spotless or one blackened left. 

But a killing game? These people we all met? We're supposed to... kill each other? How? When? And most of all... Why? "I don't want... to be in a killing game... It's wrong! I'd never do that!"

Everyone else said similar things, but it was no use.

We were all overcome with despair.


	4. Shower Trouble

Ouma's POV:  
While everyone was in the shock of there being a killing game, I take a look at the Monopad. Oh. Nothing interesting. It's just the rules, regulations, and a map of the school. Seems pretty simple to me.

"Gonta don't know if this is important... but Gonta find manhole outside school," Gonta suddenly says. "Gonta think we could escape with manhole."

"Whaaaaaat!" Tenko yells. "Why didn't you say so earlier?!"

"Anyway..." Kirumi says. "If it is an actual escape route, then let's go try it."

We go to the manhole, all 16 of us, even though I'm still skeptic all of the idea. If Monokuma made this place, he surely wouldn't be as stupid to leave an exit open. And if he did, it would probably be fake.

Kaede then gives us her little motivational speech, and then we start to go through the tunnel. But man, the difficulty was hard! It was no surprise we weren't able to do it. Kaede ended up being no help after all. Even so, she wanted us to try again, and again. Almost half of us started getting tired of it, too tired to continue.

"My spirit feels like it's going to split in two..." 

"I knew none of us could do this type of bullshit!"

"I figured from the beginning this wouldn't work..."

"I'm just glad that no one was seriously injured. Praise be to Atua."

"The most logical course of action would be to give up..."

"You guys can't all rely on my magic... I don't have enough MP left."

"Yeah... I feel like Hisashi Mitsui in the second half of a baseball game."

They all looked so... depressed. I couldn't stand the thought. Not like I cared anyway. If there really was an exit, we wouldn't be here in the first place.

 

Kaede's cheeks turn pink. She looks like she's about to cry. Oh well. It's her fault she tried so hard. I mean, I would be fine with one or two times. But now? It's been like 20 times already. 

Kaito starts to feel bad for Kaede, but Maki still thinks it's her fault. Gonta wants everyone to keep going, but no one wants to listen. And then-

Ding dong bing bong!

Oh, what the hell now? I'm tired of those Monokubs. There's a monitor in the room- which is kind of odd, since we're in a cave under a manhole.

I knew it! Monokuma had known we would come here and made it impossible to escape! That's why he already had the monitor here! He did this to make us feel...

What's the word?

Despair.

Looking back at the screen, I see the 5 Monokubs in the couch as usual. "This is an official announcement," Monosuke says.

"It is now 10 pm. Nighttime has officially begun," Monotaro says. Nighttime? We've been in this cramped area the whole time?

The Monokubs go over the rules at nighttime once more, as if we already forgot, then all say, "Kyahahah! Sweet dreams!"

"Nighttime, huh? Welp, no sense pushing our luck," Rantaro says while crossing his arms. "We should probably get a fresh start tomorrow."

"We've each been assigned a room in the dormitory. Perhaps we will sleep there?" Kirumi asks.

"Well, nothing we can do except suck it up! So what's our plan for tomorrow?" I ask. Though this killing game doesn't make me feel good- I wouldn't think it makes anyone feel good- I like all the funny stuff around here and all the people. And robots. Except Monokuma, of course. 

Hey! Maybe...We should all meet up every morning!

"Since the dining hall opens at 8 am, how about we meet there at that time?" I suggest.

"Sure, I think that'll work. I'm okay with that," Rantaro agrees.

"Can we just go to our rooms already?" Maki says in annoyance. She ends the conversation since we all agree to go to our rooms.

When we all get to the dormitory, I look for the room that has a picture of me above it. Huh. It's next to Kiibo's room and above Ryoma's room. When I go inside, it looks like a hotel room. The closet is stocked with the exact same clothing I'm wearing now. Other then that, most of it looks like a regular room. I know that's going to change soon, though.

I look at some other stuff in the room, which took almost 20 minutes, since there's so many cabinets and drawers. For some reason, I found a deck of UNO cards in one drawer. After I finish, I get bored and try to find something else to do.

Since I'm not sleepy, I decide to check out some of the other rooms. I take out a hairpin that I always keep in my pocket.

Hmm... I'm going to go to Shuichi's room first. I can't wait to see his reaction. He's definitely going to love this...

Once I make sure everyone is inside their rooms and not roaming around, I walk to Shuichi's dorm. I put the pin through the doorknob, and the rest is by habit. Turn, turn, push, and...

Click!

I open the door slowly, and peek inside. 

Please tell me he's actually in there... I'd hate to do this for nothing...

I hear some sounds coming from the bathroom. Holy shit, I really have good timing. Let's see what we have here...

"Hm?" Oops... Saihara must have heard me somehow, because he puts something down- probably a comb or something- and walks out of the bathroom. That's when he sees me.

"Kokichi! What the hell? Are you- Are you like stalking me?! Why are you even here?! I was taking a shower!" he asks, his towel around his waist.

I've never seen a reaction from him like that before. I want to see it again.

"Oh, no way! C'mon, Saihara, you can't sit there with the frown all day! Let's have some fun!"

"F-Fun? I haven't..." Saihara looks down at the ground with a sad smile. "I actually... haven't had that for a while."

"Exactly! So we're going to have some fun together and get that smile back on your face!" I say.

"Wait!" Saihara says, stopping me from going any further then the bathroom. "How do I know you're not lying and you're actually going to kill me?"

"Oh please. Am I really that unreliable? I would never hurt you in any way, my sweet little Saihara-chan."

"Saihara... chan?" He looks confused for a moment, but doesn't want to press on. "I guess I'll trust you. For the time being, Ouma. Not the whole game."

He calls me Ouma?!

"Woo-hoo! Yeah! Let's get starteeeeed!" I say with enthusiasm.

"Hey, wait. I still need to dry off and change!" he laughs. Seeing that small smile on his face... brightens up the whole day- and night.

I sit on the couch near the bed and look around his room. In his closet, it has perfect replicas of the clothes he usually wears. 

Hmm, surely he won't notice if I take one of his hats...

I quickly snatch a hat from the closet and find out that it's really floppy. It could probably fit in my pocket if I folded it. Seeing as that's the only way to hide it, I stuff the hat in my back pocket and sit down on the couch just as Saihara gets out of the bathroom fully dressed like I usually see him.

He sits next to me on the couch and says, "What first?"

"Oh, you're that excited? Nishishi..." I say as I slowly move my hand toward his head. I then grab his hat and throw it to the door. It ends up landing in the trash can. Whatever. That works too. "First, you need to get rid of that emo hat."

"Emo hat?" Saihara asks in disbelief. "But I-"

"No buts. That hat isn't even necessary. You're not bald, you don't have a severe case of lice, and you're not invisible. So stop trying to blend in with the background," I explain.

"Kokichi..." he mutters. "I have a reason for wearing that..."

"Really? I neeeever expected that? Shuichi Saihara, the Ultimate Detective, has a reason for wearing a hat all the time!"

"Ok, stop!" Saihara says. "Don't make me feel bad..."

Oops, right. He's a sensitive person.

"Alright! What's your reason, then?"

"Well, first of all, I'm not an actual detective. I solved a murder case before the police did... and I just started getting called that.

Well I could do that too, if I tried...

"Whenever I caught the culprit, I saw them get into the cops' car. The look they gave me... It was of pure anger. Pure rage. I don't want anyone looking at me in the eyes like that again. I don't want to find out the truth, especially if it hurts someone, but, that title, the Ultimate Detective, makes everyone put the pressure on me to make all the arguments and decisions. That's why... I wear the hat. I don't want anyone to look at me in the eyes like the one guy."

"Oh. Well, you still need to get over your insecurities!" I say. "This... This is a killing game. Some of us will die, whether you want it or not. So if you have insecurities, you better get rid of them quickly," I say. 

"..."

Ding ding!

"Huh. That's the doorbell. Why would someone else be at my door?" Saihara asks himself. "Quick, hide in the bathroom or something."

"In the bathroom? Why?" I ask while putting my finger on my chin.

"Ah, um, I just... don't want anyone to know you're with me..." Saihara mutters.

I do what he says, and I listen to the conversation from the bathroom. 

"Amami? Why are you here? And at nighttime too..."

He calls Rantaro by his last name too...!

"Mm, I was just going to ask you something."

"Oh, ah, what is it?"

"Well, have you seen Kokichi around? I needed to ask him something. When I knocked on his dorm room he didn't answer."

"Huh. He probably fell asleep already. I mean... it's already 10:30."

"Ah, okay. It's just... I wouldn't think of him as the type to fall asleep the second nighttime is announced. He'd be more of the type to, y'know, roam around, make pranks, stuff like that."

Well, he isn't wrong...

"Sorry..."

"Nah, it's fine. I'll just find him tomorrow," Rantaro lets out a sigh, and then a yawn.

"Well, um, I guess I'll see you tomorrow at the dining hall."

"See you. Unless, y'know, I get killed or something."

"Ah, um, bye." I hear the close of the door and Saihara walks into the doorway of the bathroom. "That was a close one-"

"Why'd you do that?" I ask

"Huh?"

"You lied. In Rantaro's face. Why'd you do that for me?" I repeat the question again.

"I guess I just... wanted to help you out," Shuichi says with a small smile.

"Mm. Okay," I reply. "I'm getting kind of tired too, so I might as well leave now-"

"Wait!"

"Hm?"

"I mean, okay," Saihara says, his cheeks reddening.

"Oh, whatever. You can think whatever you want," I laugh. As I leave out the door I say, "Don't let anyone kill you. I'd hate for that to happen, y'know?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Since I just joined AO3, I'm not used to using it that well, but I'm really glad with the amount of kudos n stuff that I already got! Again, thanks guys! 
> 
> Also, is there any way to change the font to italics or bold? Because since the original is on Wattpad, I know how to do all that in there but not here. Or is it even possible? Sorry if I sound stupid, but I'm honestly just wondering.


	5. A Secret Room

**Saihara's POV** :  
_Ding dong bing bong_!

"It's 8am, you cretins! Let's see who's dead today!" says one of the Monokubs in the morning announcement.

"N-No! I don't want anyone to die yet!" Monophanie says.

I ignore the rest of the things all the Monokubs are saying. After I wash up, I head to the dining hall where Ouma had told everyone to meet up. When I get there, I see that Kokichi, Kaito, Rantaro, and Tsumugi are already there.

"Oh, hey Shuichi!" Kaito says. Amami gives a nod, but Ouma doesn't do anything. Neither does Tsumugi.

Soon, everyone else starts to come in, Kaede being last. "Oh, everyone's already here!" she says as she plops down on the long bench.

The first topic that gets brought up is what happened yesterday with the manhole. I almost forgot about it, because I was busy with Kokichi, but I remember that some people got mad at Kaede.

"You guys were so mean to her! Poor Kaede!" Kokichi says.

"Hey, weren't you the first one to blame her yesterday?!" Tenko argues.

"Now now, everyone was just tired-" Rantaro starts.

"Oh, that? That was a lie," Ouma says. "Did you know that about half of my lies are said with good intentions?"

"Now that sounds like a lie," Himiko mumbles. "Let's just move on and talk about something else."

"Okay. Let's think of ways to get out of here," Kaede immediately says. That's all she's focused on, getting out of here... Not like that's a bad thing, but shouldn't she focus on other things too?

Suddenly, before Kaede can continue, Monokuma appears out of nowhere. "AHHHHH!" Kaede shrieks. She must be really scared of him.

"Don't do that! The stress isn't good for my heart!" Tsumugi exclaims.

"Oops, sorry. I didn't mean to not surprise you," Monokuma says. "Anyways, I have an announcement to make."

Another one?

"Now, I'm sure you're all thinking that being a goody-two shoes is the easier way to survive, right? Being thrust into a killing game doesn't mean you'll be able to kill someone easily... So I figured I'd give you guys a motivation to kill."

"Motivation to kill?" Angie asks.

"In short, a motive," Monokuma explains. "Now then, the first motive is called the First Blood Perk! Wow! For the first murder that occurs, there will be no class trial held! Can you believe it?"  
That means the first one to kill someone will get to graduate, no strings attached!"

"No class trial will be held?" Maki questions.

"Yep! You'll get out free and easy!" Monokuma says.

"Huh? That's all? So.. we just need to kill someone to leave?" Miu asks.

"That's all? Don't make it sound like that! Please!" Kiibo pleads.

I have to admit, that sounds tempting. But not for me. I would never kill anyone just for a game. I'd much rather die myself.

"That's it!" Kaito yells. "I've had enough of this!" He lunges to grab Monokuma, but...

"Ooh! Looks like we've got ourselves a volunteer!" Monokuma shrieks with delight. He takes Kaito to the Exisals.

_Oh no... No no no... Kaito can't die! He's like... a super aggressive version of Kaede!_

But my thoughts were all stopped when-

_Smash!_

_No way... he can't die that easily.._. I open my eyes, but the sight that greets me is even more horrifying.

"GRAAAAAAH!" Monokuma yells. Where Kaito was supposed to be under the Exisal... was Monokuma. Broken fluff and bits of machinery fly onto the floor.

"He's dead? Just like that?" Kaede asks.

"Don't get partying just yet. I'm sure he has a spare somewhere," Kirumi says.

"Aww... does that mean there's no more killing games?" Ouma says with fake sadness. By getting to know him better, I'm starting to see through his lies. "Well, that's okay, since now... we win!"

"I don't think so... at least not just yet-" Kaede starts.

"Oh, please, Kaede, stop being such a buzzkill! Everyone's still mad about what you did yesterday, y'know?" Ouma complains. Was that a lie? Maybe a half-lie. He believed that somewhat, but it's not all true.

"C'mon guys. Now we're the new headmasters of this school," Monosuke says while fixing his glasses.

Ah, right...

I really dislike the Monokubs. They made announcements last way longer then they're supposed to be. It took us at least 3 hours in the school by ourselves to get it explained that this was a killing game because of the Monokubs.

After Kokichi finished talking, we all went our separate ways. I went back to my dorm room. But I remembered the thing I found last night in the library. There was a secret room behind one of the shelves. I need to tell someone about this! Maybe they can help me find a way to use the room.

The first thing I did is go to Ouma's room. After I ring the doorbell a couple times, he answers it. "Wha- Oh, Saihara?"

"Ah, um, I need to show you something. Come with me," I say quickly.

"What, did someone die already?" Ouma says. "Or is there like, some secret room in the library or something?"

I freeze. "How'd you already know?"

"Oh, you know, a little birdie told me."

I narrow my eyes. Who in the world would tell Ouma of all people? "That's a lie, isn't it? You probably found the room on your own time, didn't you?"

Ouma smiled. "So you are a real detective. Well, either way, I still think th-"

"There you are, Shuichi!" I spot Kaede running up to me, her shoes clacking against the floor. "I was looking for you everywhere!" she says, breathless from running.

"Ah, um, sorry..." I mutter. "I didn't want to keep you waiting..."

"Okay, well, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?" she asks.

"I found this thing in the library. Here, l'll show you. Ouma, you can come with us too," I say.

"Yay! I get to go with you guys!" Ouma yells as he jumps into the air, thrusting his hand up.

As the three of us keep walking, Kaede speeds up to match my pace while Kokichi lags behind us. "Why would you let him come along? He's only going to slow us down!"

 _Well, obviously he noticed the room and you didn't Kaede, so if I had to cut someone, it would be you_. Ah, why am I being so salty about it? "He's just a friend. He already knows about the room, so I figured it would be an extra help to have someone who also knew about it."

Kaede lets out a sharp sigh and crosses her arms. "I guess you have the right point..." I can still tell she doesn't appreciate it, though.

The three of us walk to the library, which took us longer then you would think, because we haven't been here for enough time to get used to it.

When we arrive, I walk up to the middle shelf. "See, I noticed there was no books atop this shelf. But there's books on top of all the other shelves. So I went to look at it, and..." I push the shelf towards me... and...

"What? It pushes open?"

"Yeah, Kaede. I'm surprised you never noticed that," Ouma says passively. The two seem to detest each other. I'm not sure why...

"Well, anyway, what did you think about it?" Kaede asks me.

"Ah, well, look at this door behind it. See, it has a card reader, and we don't have a card or anything-"

"Awww... can I not get to pick the lock since you need a card?" Ouma says with sadness.

"You can pick locks?" asks Kaede.

"Well, duh. Any supreme leader can do that."

"Anyway," I say, getting back on topic, "I, uh, was thinking why the door was here. It wouldn't make sense if it was for Monokuma, because he could just have Exisals guarding it or something similar, and not have it hidden. That's why I think... it's someone else. Maybe-"

"Maybe a mastermind!" Ouma exclaims.

I look at him. "How are you knowing all this stuff without any help?"

"How did you find out all this stuff without any help?" Ouma shouts back. I render speechless.

"So I really did bring you here for nothing then..."

"Yeah, you did. I'm surprised you didn't realize that earli-"

"Guys, stop getting off topic," Kaede starts. "I don't know what you mean by mastermind."

"Well, y'know, Monokuma's a robot, right?" Ouma asks Kaede. She nods. "But someone has to control him, y'see? A robot couldn't entirely make a killing game on his own, right." Kaede nods again. "Sooo... it would have to be someone in this school, otherwise the door could be in the outside world. We already established it isn't Monokuma or the Monokubs, since it was a hidden door, so it has to be one of us."

"Mastermind? Behind all this? Are you sure you can get to a conclusion like that just from a secret door?"

"Yes," I say.

"Yep! It's what detectives- sorry, I meant a detective does." Did Ouma say that on purpose? He should of done it the first way- or was that on purpose too?

"Mm." Kaede doesn't seem to know what to make out of that, so she doesn't say anything.

"Ah, I think I may have an idea to see if the 'mastermind' used the card."

"We should investigate everyone's rooms!" Ouma says. Coming from him, that's actually... a really good idea.

"No way! That's a breach of privacy!" Kaede argues.

"But we would be asking the person for permission. How's that a breach of privacy?" Ouma is reminding me of what happens yesterday. "Unless you really want me to break into everyone's rooms without their permission...?"

"Eugh! No way!" Kaede yells. Since Ouma did this to me yesterday, I decide not to take a side so I don't hurt anybody.

"Guys!" I shout. Suddenly, they all quiet down, surprised that I spoke so loudly. "You never heard my idea."

"Oh, right! Kokichi, you shouldn't have steered us so far off topic!" Kaede consoles Ouma with her index finger.

"Y-You're so... mean? WAHHHHHH! How could you do such a thing?! Why, Kaede, why?!" Ouma says, spurts of tears flying from his eyes.

Kaede doesn't know what to say. "I-I'm sorry if I hurt you-"

"You always hurt me! Just because I lie a bunch doesn't mean you get to do that!" Tears spill from his eyes and drip from his chin. He does a few sniffs after that, then wipes his nose.

"That... That was a lie, right?" I mutter.

"Hm?"

"What you said... that was a lie, wasn't it?" I say, more confident this time.

"You're getting better, Saihara," Ouma replies with a sneaky smile.

"Okay guys, what are you doing? We're supposed to be focusing on the room. Stop getting off topic," Kaede exclaims in frustration.

"Oh, ah, right. Sorry..." I mutter. "Anyway, I was thinking for a way we can see if the mastermind uses the card reader."

"Really? How?" Ouma asks.

"Well, we can use dust. If the mastermind swipes the card, the dust would disappear and falls to the ground. If not, it would still be in the card reader."

"That would work..." Kaede starts, "but how do you even know if there if a mastermind?"

"That's what we're going to find out."

We get to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, this chapter looks way better with the "rich text" format! Still a bit hard to use, but I hoped you liked this chapter.


	6. Another Monokuma?!

**Ouma's POV:**   
After we put the dust in the card slot, I started getting tired, which I'm not used to. I usually sleep really late. Despite that, I said bye to Saihara and Kaede, and they continued finishing up some other stuff in the library. I don't know if that's all they did though...

_Ding dong bing bong!_

I wake up to the morning announcement. Just like last night, the only Monokub there is Monodam. He doesn't say anything and the monitor shuts off. I didn't get much sleep last night. Saihara's words are still in my head: that there might be a mastermind.

Out of all these, people, who can I trust? No one, that is. Anyone can kill me, one of them is controlling Monokuma. Well, Saihara is kind of trustworthy, I guess. I still don't know too much about him... and maybe Rantaro, too...

I can't think about things like this. It's no use. Everything is fine. Monokuma's dead, so we have nothing to worry about.

Is he?

After I get dressed and wash up, I go outside for a bit where I find Kaede. I figured she didn't get enough sleep last night, like me and probably Saihara. "Heyyyy Kaede! Mannnnn, I slept great last night! The place is actually alright if there's nothing to worry about, isn't it?" I lie to make myself feel better.

"Um... I wouldn't think so..." she mutters. She doesn't seem in the mood to talk.

"Well, isn't it great! No Monokuma, no killing game! Just... a bunch of people to be friends with! Also... how far are you with Saihara?"

"Wh-What?!" Kaede shrieks, her eyes wide and eyebrows raised.

"Nishishi... what were you thinking of just now?"

"..." Kaede seems speechless. "I can't believe you do this so much, Kokichi. If you weren't as... as much of a liar, I would like you a lot more."

I was expecting something like that coming out of Kaede. "Wh-What? You're so mean! I thought we were friends?! But you were lying the whole time! Wahhhhhhhhhhhh!" I cry, tears pouring down my cheeks.

"Well, you were lying too," Kaede says back.

Now I wasn't expecting her to catch on. "Oh? Wow, Kaede. You know how to stand your ground, don'tcha? But you're right- I was lying. We're mostly just strangers to one another." I slip in another lie while I continue. "So that's why I don't really care what you and Shuichi do."

"That's a lie too, isn't it?" I hear another voice say. Saihara. He found me. "You do care, that's the only reason you brought it up."

"How- How do you do that, Shuichi?" Kaede looks at him in shock. "Not only did you know it was a lie, but you knew the reasons for it too! And today's only the second day!"

"Ah, um, I guess I have really good intuition or something like that. I'm not sure." Now it was Saihara's turn to lie. He knows me enough now, that's what. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not...

"Oh, um, okay. Well, I'm going to say hi to everyone else. You wanna come?" Kaede asks Saihara. Him, not me.

_Please say no Please say no Please say no Please say no Please say no Please say no Please say no-_

"I'd really like to, but I don't want leave Ouma- I mean Kokichi alone over here. So, ah, um, no thanks."

She didn't seem to like that answer, but she went along. "Okay. Whatever suits you." On that note, she leaves to greet everyone else.

"She's been acting kind of salty recently, hasn't she?" Saihara asks me once Kaede leaves.

"Recently? More like all the time," I reply.

"You think so?"

"I don't know. But she doesn't like me, that's for sure," I laugh.

"Yeah..." Saihara mutters. "Sorry I'm around her so much. I know you don't really like it..."

He knows that much already?

"Hey, you two!" I hear Tenko yell. "We're heading to the dining hall!"

"Oh, ah, right!" Saihara says, as he runs to the dining hall, while I follow behind him. Despite all my worrying, everyone was in a good mood when I got there. No one says anything, so I don't see anything against starting the conversation on a good note.

"Maaan, for a moment I had no idea what was gonna happen! I'm glad it turned out like this!" I say, crossing my arms behind my head.

"Yeah, seriously..." Kaito mutters.

"Nyeh... I slept well last night. Also, I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth by myself," Himiko says happily.

"You did that all with magic? You're so amazing, Himiko!" Tenko exclaims.

"But... when someone coming to get us?" Gonta wonders aloud.

"Whoever does... I assume they will come today. There's no need to worry."

Okay, when was it established that someone's picking us up? Everyone's discussing that part like it's a fact. If someone in the outside world knew we were here and wanted to pick us up, then they would do it before the killing game even started.

"..." Rantaro lets out a sigh.

"Why the long face?" Ryoma asks.

"Nothing..." Rantaro mutters. He puts his hands on his hips. "I figured no one would listen to some guy who can't even remember his own talent, would they?" I think he doesn't believe someone's picking us up either.

"What do you mean?" Kirumi asks.

"Really... it's nothing. This is quite the happy ending," Rantaro replies, the tiniest bit of sarcasm audible in his tone.

"But are you sure it ends like that?" Kaede blurts out. "Surely not... it can't be that easy, can it? I don't think it'll end like this." So she does know something, then.

"I wonder... do you wish for the killing game to continue?" Korekiyo asks.

"What? N-No, of course not!" Kaede says in surprise.

"Then don't ruin our happy moment, you fuckin' skank!" Miu exclaims.

"..."

"Hey, Kaede, I don't know what you're so worried about," I lie, trying to make myself feel better that I was worrying too. "But Monokuma is dead now. There's no way the killing game can continue, y'know?" The more I say it... the more it's true... That has to be true...

"And that's my cue to appear, kuma!" says an unfamiliar voice. Well, actually, it was very familiar, but no one ever thought we would hear it again.

"...What?" I say in surprise. Monokuma's... alive? I should've been expecting this, so Kaede... was right.

"GAHHHHHHHHHH!" Tenko yells.

"M-Monokuma!" Kirumi exclaims in surprise.

"H-He's still alive?" Kaito wonders.

"Puhuhuhuhu... as if I was dead?" Monokuma says. Then...

"Rise and shine, ursine!" Here comes the Monokubs... probably the only creatures alive more annoying then I am.

"Geez... it's loud in here. What's the rukus all about?" Monotaro says. "Wait, WHAT?! Our father, who we thought was dead, is actually aliiiiive?!"

They continue to talk about the most pointless stuff, like Yo-Kai, scary stories, and I can't even start to list the rest. Get a move on, guys! Finally... Monosuke actually says something useful.

"This school... has a machine that can make a whole lotta Pops. Just activate that machine, and you can have as many spare Pops as you wa-"

Suddenly, Monokuma stops him from speaking by grabbing each of the bears and... licking them?!?!!!!?! What the hell... It looks so disgusting! Finally when they stop, Tsumugi says something.

"Does this mean... the killing game is going to continue?" she asks.

"C-Continue? The killing game... is going to continue?" Kaede asks in horror.

"What...? The killing game... is going to continue?" I say with a frown. I smile again and then continue. "Well, at least it won't be as boring, so I guess it'll be okay!"

"What a pain..."

"So that's how it's going to be... If we want to end this..." Rantaro mutters. "We have to take down Monokuma and the person working behind him."

He knows about the mastermind too? But how? I better ask him about that later...

"Ahem! Now then, I am pleased to announce an additional motive!" Monokuma yells with enthusiasm. How...? How can he be so excited about them?!

"There will now be a time limit in effect! If a murder does not occur at nighttime two days from now... then every student participating in this killing game will die!" he announces.

Why did he say it like that? "Participating in the killing game"? What does he mean by that?

While everyone complains and is plunged into despair, I think about what he could mean. This isn't just a game of wits- it's a game of mystery.

So, first of all, there's a room that can make spare Monokumas. I'm not sure where that is, and I probably won't ever know about that- unless I survive till the end, but in what situation would that ever happen?

The second thing is that Rantaro knows about the mastermind. How, though? He could've overheard us talking, maybe... from outside the library. He may have figured it out on his own too. Or maybe... Kaede or Saihara broke their promise of not telling anyone and told Rantaro. I might need to ask him about that.

The third thing... I might need to mention this to Saihara as more evidence of a mastermind. Monokuma said "participating in the killing game". Meaning that the mastermind... isn't participating, are they?

But who? Who's the mastermind?

...I really can't trust anyone here, no matter how much I want to, can I?

 


	7. A Little Game

**Saihara's POV:**  
"Ouma, Kaede, I need you guys to come with me," I say.

"Huh?" What is it?" Kaede asks.

"It's the library," I mutter in a low whisper. "The dust in the card reader is gone."

"It is? Man, I never thought someone would use that," Ouma says. I know he's lying, but I ignore it.

"Hey! What are you two talking about?" Kaito asks.

"Sorry... We can't tell you," Kaede says. "But it'll help stop the killing game, that's for sure."

"Oh whatever! We're all trying to stop it, aren't we?" Kaito says.

"Y-Yeah... I guess," Kaede replies.

We head to the library after that, and we open the door to show Kaede and Ouma.

"What? Really?" Kaede asks. She inspects the card reader herself, only to discover that I'm right. "So that means, someone entered this during nighttime?"

"Mm-hmm," I answer. "Ah, um, perhaps Monokuma's revival is related to this door somehow."

"Really??? How?" Ouma asks, suddenly enthusiastic for my answer.

"Remember what the Monokubs said? They mentioned a Monokuma-making machine. I believe that's what's behind this door."

"Oh, I get it!" Kaede says.

"Yep! Seems like it makes sense!" Ouma agrees.

"But... There's one other thing," I say.

"Huh? What now?" Ouma asks.

"Remember the time limit Monokuma mentioned?" I recall. "He said if a murder doesn't occur at nighttime two days from now... he'll kill us all with the Monokuma-making machine."

"Yeah? What about it?" Kaede asks.

"Saihara here's saying that he the mastermind's gonna come here at nighttime before the time limit goes up to make a bazillion Monokubs, and then we can kill 'em!" Ouma says.

"Okay, I swear, how are you reading my mind like that???" I say, starting to get a bit creeped out by Ouma.

"Guys, don't get off topic," Kaede says.

"Heyyy... Shuichi just mentions one thing and you have to get so mad at him! That's not helpful!" Ouma says.

Kaede doesn't say anything, but she lets out a sigh in frustration and bites her lip to refrain herself from saying anything she'll regret.

After that, we reapply dust back in the card swiper, and we head back to our rooms.

When I get to my room, it's not even lunchtime yet. I can't stay here forever, I need to do something.

_Free Time Start!_

Hmm... I've been hanging around with Kokichi for some time, but I can't think of anyone else that I'd like to go with.

So I go to Ouma's room.

"S-Saihara! Don't go to my room! You can't-" Ouma starts when he opens the door.

"You really can't trust me?" I ask.

"Yeah, but..."

I just continue looking at him, and he eventually gives in.

"Uuuugghhhh... fine..." He admits defeat really quickly and lets me in. I step inside and observe his room. His room is pretty much identical to mine, except for one thing. Next to his bed is a bulletin board with every single Ultimate's pictures pinned on it. His bed is also not fixed and there's pillows everywhere.

I couldn't help but notice he also had a board with everyone's pictures written with random notes on each one. I glance over to mine, where the word "trustworthy?" was written with an arrow. He seems like a detective of his own. Before I can ask him about it, he says something first.

 

"Hey, Saihara!"

"What is it?" I sigh, turning to the excited dictator.

"You shouldn't wear that hat of yours. Honestly, you look waaaaay better without it." Ouma grins encouragingly.

"I do?"

"C'mon, you're saying that as if I've never told you! Take that hat off!" Ouma starts to reach his hand towards it and...

I smacked him.

"H-Huh???" Ouma retaliates, and looks at his hand. There's a pink mark on it clearly visible. "W-Why'd you do that???" he stammers.

"No... " Why did I do that? I don't know the answer myself. "I'm sorry..." I mutter. "I really am..."

"Ugh! Why are you so mean? All I wanted to do is-"

"I said I'm sorry..."

"Sorry can't cut it. I need you to do something for me..."

"Why would I do that?"

"Why would you say sorry?"

"... Really, Ouma?"

"Really, Saihara?"

"Jesus Christ...!" I exclaim.

"You're not even religious, Saihara!"

"How could you know something like that?"

"Now, why would I tell you?" he smirks.

"Ok, can you just blow it off so we can continue?" I groan.

"Nishishi... I couldn't do that. Meanie's have to pay."

"I know you're lying," I mutter.

"Whaaat? No, I swear this is true!" Ouma pouts.

Eventually I couldn't take it anymore. "Stop it, Ouma! I'm sick of you acting that you don't have any feelings, because you do! Can't you feel the slightest bit of sympathy, for once?" I yell. I've never heard my voice that loud before. It scares me, and Ouma too.

"..." He doesn't know what to say. I knew it. He acts like this because he doesn't want to admit the truth. Because he's not comfortable admitting the truth. "Shuichi..." he mutters, using my first name, which I don't think I've heard him do, "I really am sorry. I lie out of habit, okay? And... I'm not sure if I can stop that for anyone, even you."

I've never heard him like this. I wish I could hear him like this more... But then it wouldn't mean much to me, would it? My voice cracks when I speak. "You're not lying, aren't you?"

"Of course not..."

"God... I'm sorry, I don't know what got into me. I'm probably just tired," I mumble pulling my hat further down and staring at the ground so Ouma couldn't see my face at all.

"No... I don't know what got into me either." He gives a smile. Not a smile of that liar, but a smile of the person behind that. It was then when I knew the truth. He wasn't all bad, but not all good either. I grab his hands onto mine. They're warm. And soft. I wish I could hold them forever. I let out a sweet sigh. And-

_Ding dong!_

"Huh??" Suddenly, I'm sucked back into reality. The killing game. Others that can't be trusted. Me and Ouma... we were in the bed??? And our hands were clasped together? My cold hands in his warm ones... it felt good, but...

"I'll get the door," Ouma says. He quickly pushes the board with all of the Ultimate's pictures on it into the closet and then heads for the door. When he opens it, he says, "Amam- I mean, Rantaro? Why are you here?"

Is it just me, or does Rantaro always seem to get in the way of stuff? Well, he isn't a bad person, right?

"Heh... I was feeling kind of bored, so I decided to hang out with you and Shuichi," he says with a shrug.

"Huh? How did you know I was here?" ask.

"Oh. Well, I noticed you weren't in your room, and I asked Kaede, and she said she didn't know where you were either. So I assumed you were here."

"Ah, um, okay. I guess that's fine," I reply. I notice Amami is pacing back and forth. "Uh, why are you pacing so much?"

"Can't you tell, Saihara? He's doing the pee-pee dance," Ouma answers. 

"You didn't have to word it that way... but okay," I mutter to myself.

"Ahah... Kokichi's right. I do need to use the restroom," Amami says. "Mind if I use the one here?"

"Sure, do whatever you like!" Ouma answers, waving his hand as if to shoo Amami away.

While Amami's using the bathroom, Ouma gives me a sneaky glance. "Hey... Shuichi..."

"Huh?"

"Wanna play UNO?"

"Wait what?" That was the last thing I expected him to ask. "Where would you find something like that?!" I ask Ouma. This school would never have something like that, would they?

"Nishshi... I actually found a deck of them in my room," Ouma responds with a sly smile.

"Really?" Amami suddenly says, appearing next to us. When did he get here? "Can I play?"

I look to Ouma for an answer to his question. "Oh yeah! Anything for you guys!"

For some reason this seemed incredibly unrealistic. "This seems kind of odd to do in a killing game..." I tell the two.

"Why don't we... just forget there was ever a killing game in the first place?" Amami suggests.

"Yeah... I tend to think that a lot. I actually usually feel better that way!" Ouma says. He sounds happy to say that, but...

"Isn't that just lying to yourself?" I ask.

"In a way... I guess so," Ouma agrees. "Nishishi! But I don't care! I follow my rules!"

I couldn't help but admire that passion. Ouma never seemed to care what others think. He did what he wanted, when he wanted, and who he wanted to mess with. Maybe that's what I liked in him. Maybe that's why I felt something different when I spoke to him...

"Well, why don't we get started?" Amami says, interrupting my thoughts.

"Good idea."

I pass out the cards, and when everyone looks at theirs, Ouma grins. "Woohoo! All wilds! That's what I'm talking 'bout!"

"Uh..." Me and Amami give Ouma a disapproving look. We both know he's lying.

"Oh, whatever! Let's playyyyyyyyy!" Ouma says, putting down his first card.

***

"Uno!" Ouma yells after putting down a red 8. I have four red cards left, and Amami has three cards in his hand. It's my turn next.

"Shit! Amami, do you have any Skips or Draw Two cards! I don't, but Ouma can't win!" I say.

"I don't... but I can change the color." Amami places a blue 5 on top of my red 5.

"Nishishishi... I win!" Ouma exclaims in delight as he puts down his last card. It was a Wild card.

"Ugh! I hate that trick!" I mutter in anger.

"Hey guys... we should play for second place," Amami says. We start to continue, but then Ouma looks at Amami's cards and widens his eyes.

"Man! You've gotta lot of Draw 4s!" Ouma says.

"Hey! Stop lying about what I have!" Amami says to Ouma.

"B-But... I'm not lying... That was true."

It turns out Ouma was right, well partially. Amami had coincidentally drawn a Draw 4 and he used it to win. "Sorry..." he tells me after winning.

"Ahah... It's fine. It's just a game." If only I could say that about the killing game... I think.

_About a million UNO games later. . ._

"Hey... Saihara..." Amami mutters. "Maybe you should take off that hat..."

My eyes fought to stay open as I felt his hand flick off the hat. I heard a quiet thud on the floor where my hat laid behind me. I was so tired, I couldn't even try to reach for the hat. I honestly didn't know why I was still hanging out with these two, but I knew one thing. I definitely enjoyed it... somehow.

"Hey guys, maybe we should stop playing and just talk," Ouma says with a yawn.

"Yeah..." Me and Amami say in unison.

"Amami... did you ever think that Saihara looks like a girl?" Ouma suddenly says.

"Eh?!" I suddenly say. "Why'd you think that?!"

Amami looks at me and laughs. "Actually, you sorta do."

"Huh?!" I flush red with embarrassment. "No I don't... My hair's not even long!"

"That's not it," Amami points out. "It's just your eyelashes are really long. Like a girl's..."

"Yeah! That's it!" Ouma says in realization.

"How could you two say that? Have you seen your own eyelashes, Amami?" I retort.

"He has a point," Ouma agrees

"We could all pass for girls if we tried, haha," Amami notes.

"Ah, yeah..."

"It's kind of odd, y'know? How, in two days, one of us could be... dead," Amami says.

Why did you have to remind us about that? I was trying to dismiss that thought for the time being!

"Who knows? It could even be you, Rantaro," Ouma says. "Or me. Or Saihara."

"Yeah... the thought kind of creeps me out. That's why I have a plan to stop the killing game," Amami says with a small sigh.

"Nishishi... so do I. We're gonna take down the mastermind,"Ouma says loudly with enthusiasm.

"Ouma..." I say through gritted teeth. He wasn't supposed to say that! Did he forget that it was only between me, him, and Kaede? Now Amami knows about it too?!

"You know about that too?" Amami says in surprise, smile disappearing from his face.

"Ouma, I told you not to-"

"Huh? You too?" Ouma says, putting his index finger on his chin like he sometimes does.

"How'd you know about it?"

"I guess... since you already know, there's nothing against telling you," I say. "Well... I noticed one of the shelves in the library didn't have any books on top, so when I went to look, it opened to reveal the door. But how did you know?"

"Ah, I'm sorry... I can't tell you guys that," Amami replies. Why not?

Did Monokuma tell him? Did someone else tell him? Or... Is he the mastermind himself?

Amami looks at my confused face. "Don't worry- I'm not the mastermind." Can I believe that?

He lets out a yawn and says, "Maybe meet up tomorrow too?"

"Ah, um, maybe," I say.

"Sure!" Ouma says.

"Alright, then. I have to admit, hanging out with you guys was pretty fun. I'm glad I got to know you two better," Amami says. "See you." He heads out the door.

"I'm getting kind of tired too," I mutter. "Sorry, Ouma. I better get to my room."

"Okay... don't die! Since it's nighttime, you know."

"Kokichi... I don't want you to die either. You're too precious for that to happen."

"Nishishi... Okay! Well, are you gonna go?"

"Ah, right!" I say as I head out the door. "See you."

"Hopefully."


	8. Spaghetti

**Ouma's POV:**  
"Rise and shine, ursine!" I hear as the morning announcement starts up. The Monokubs start announcing that everyone needs to get up.

"By the way, Father's time limit expires at 10 p.m. tomorrow night!" Monotaro says.

Oh, right. The time limit. I had so much fun yesterday I nearly forgot about it. But I don't want to worry about it. Feeling that sense of excitement when I was talking with them... like normal teenagers... felt so amazing. I don't know, but maybe I'll be able to do it today.

"So long! Bear well!" the Monokubs exclaim as the monitor flicks off.

After that, I get dressed, which is when I come across Saihara's hat. Maybe I should wear it today...? I'd love to see his reaction. Saihara... why do I feel this way about him? He's just a normal guy... But he isn't. He's the Ultimate Detective. He never seems like one, though. I eventually decide there's nothing wrong with wearjng the detective's hat.

Without a second thought, I put his hat on and head to the dining hall. "Hey guys!" I say when I get there. Everyone's already there except Kaede and Korekiyo."You like my emo hat?"

"Where'd you get my hat?" Saihara demands as his eyes widen.

"Where else? Your room, of course," I laugh.

"Huh? But... how'd you-" Saihara stops, thinking for a second. "Oh."

After that, we all sit in the dining hall and eat breakfast. I plop down next Saihara and ask, "Want a quickie?"

"H-Huh? What'd you say?"

"You know, those sweet-tart like thingies."

"That's... Isn't that a quiche?"

"Oh, yeah. Yep. Yep, right. Kirumi, could you please make us a quickie- I mean quiche?" I call to Kirumi, who was walking out of the kitchen area.

"Any request you say will be fulfilled," she announces as she leaves back into the kitchen to prepare.

"I never said yes, you know..." Saihara mumbles.

"Let's pretend you did."

"Are you sure that's even breakfast food?"

"Anything can be breakfast food if you want it to," I reply.

"I-I... I guess I can't argue with that."

Kirumi makes us a quiche. For some reason, she only gave us one. Was that on purpose? "Alrighty, let's eat!" I exclaim.

"But there's only one quiche..." Saihara stammers.

"Does that really matter?" I ask, looking at Shuichi straight in the eyes. "Does it?"

"I... I guess that doesn't matter..." he says after about five seconds. "Let's eat, I guess."

I can't believe I actually convinced him. "Alrighty then!" I exclaim as I start eating. I had originally thought it would be half and half, but most of the time, Saihara was stabbing it mindlessly and eating very little. He only ate a fourth of the food.

"C'mon, are you really going to eat that little?" I say, stopping once I finish my half. I lower my voice so no one hears the next part. "That's not healthy for you."

"I-It's fine... I usually don't actually eat breakfast here," Saihara responds.

"You what?! How do you resist the Ultimate Maid's delicacies?" I ask in horror. I want to help him, but he doesn't let me.

"It's fine... You don't need to worry..." he mutters. "I don't get very hungry easily..." With that he leaves the dining area and probably back to his room, leaving me the rest of the quiche and the other people in the dining hall, which was Maki, Kaito, Gonta, Tenko, Tsumugi, and Angie. Great. I dislike almost all of them.

"What was that all about?" Kaito asks when he noticed Shuichi left so quickly.

"Yeah! Why'd Shuichi leave?"

"Atua says he was mad," Angie says.

"Gonta no think Shuichi was mad. Shuichi nice person. Never get mad," Gonta thinks.

"Well... what was it?" Maki eventually asks me.

"Nishishi... I'm not gonna tell you!" I tease. "And anyway, that's my personal business."

"Personal business, huh?" Maki responds. "You must really like that detective if you consider what happens between the two of you 'personal'."

"I'm sure it was nothing! Kokichi's probably lying like usual!" Tenko says. Though I wasn't. Maki was right.

"Is that right? Were you lying?" Kaito asks.

"Atua says you were, see he must be!" Angie proclaims.

"If Atua says, then must be true," Gonta says.

"Yes! Atua will protect us, so he speaks the truth!" Tsumugi exclaims. Are they really believing that fake god?

"Well?" Maki asks.

"Nishishi... I'm not gonna tell you!" I say. "Anyways, I've got things to do and a mastermind to catch. My job here is done," I say.

"Mastermind?" Tsumugi starts, but I've already left.

***

_Ding dong!_

Huh? When I open the door, it's Saihara and Kaede. "Hey, Ouma."

"Heyyyyy!" I exclaim. "What now?"

"It's about the library. I found some cameras and security sensors in the warehouse. We could combine the two... and have cameras that can detect movement and take pictures."

"Why'd you need that, though? Are you spying on someone you like? I'll gladly let you put it in my room."

"Wha-?" Kaede starts. She tilts her head in confusion. "What made you think I like you of all people?" She grimaces at the thought. "Whatever. It's probably another lie of yours anyway."

I almost immediately look to Saihara to see if he says anything, but he doesn't. Either he doesn't know I'm lying or he does and doesn't want Kaede to get mad. Most likely the second one. "It's for the mastermind," Kaede answers. "Remember how Shuichi said that the mastermind will probably go to the library to make Monokumas?"

"Oh, right. So you all are gonna catch 'em with the cameras, right?" I ask. "Riiiight? Riiiiiiiiight?"

"Ah, yeah..." Saihara mutters.

"Wait. Do you actually know how to do that?" Kaede asks.

"No... but the Ultimate Inventor will," Saihara responds.

"Ultimate... you mean Miu?" Kaede asks in shock. "She would never agree to that!"

"Yeah, I'm, uh, kind of scared of her. That's why I brought you two with me."

"Nishishi... leave it to me! I'll take care of Miu, you'll see!" I announce to the other two. She really isn't too bad. "Hey, that rhymes..."

"You'll really do it, Kokichi?" Saihara asks. "Thanks... so much."

I wasn't expecting him to be so grateful for it. It really isn't that hard. But I guess for someone like Shuichi it would be hard to accomplish. "You're welcome!"

"Ah, but, be careful what you tell her," Shuichi says. "She might be... **it**."

Though I know he means the mastermind, I had thought of something else. "Anyway, where the hell would she even be?"

"I think I saw her in the dining hall..." Saihara mutters. "She's probably still there."

"Mm. Okay. Let's go!" Kaede says with optimism. I dunno how she's so excited, because I doubt she's faking it.

Outside in the dorm area, we meet with Kaito. "Hey guys! Where are you off too?"

Sometimes I think he does this on purpose. It's either him or Rantaro, messing up with our plans. "Well, uh..."

"Is it that thing from yesterday you're keeping secret?" he asks.

"Yeah," Kaede answers as she exhales with relief.

"Oh, okay. I won't stick my nose in it. I've decided to believe you guys on that. Well, not Kokichi."

"Aww, c'mon! Don't be so meeeeean! I thought you were a nice person!" I complain.

Kaito ignores me and continues. "After all, you guys said you were getting out of here, right? So I decided to put my money on you and Shuichi!" I can tell he's really only talking to Kaede. Man, how rude can he be? I still exist, y'know?

Kaito gives us a thumbs up as he leaves the area.

After that, we go to the dining hall to see Miu. She's the only one there, sitting down like her usual haughty self. "Morning, Miu," Kaede says politely.

"Well, if it isn't flat-chested Kaede. What the hell do you want?" Miu spat at the pianist.

"..." Kaede's already speechless and taken aback, so I jump in.

"Well... me and these two just wanted a favor, y'know? You can do that, right?" I ask.

"Y-Yeah. Actually, there's something that we want you to make..." Saihara stammers, trying contribute to then conversation. "We found cameras and security sensors in the warehouse, and, ah... Do you think you could make cameras that detect movement and take pictures?"

"The hell you gonna use that for?" Miu asks almost immediately. I knew she would be curious.

"Nishi... We want to spy on Monokuma! If we know what he's doing, then guess what? No more killing game!" I say simply.

"Yeah... e-exactly that. Please, Miu... we need your help to get everyone out of here," Kaede pleads.

"Ah, okay, I get it now," Miu says. For a second I think she'll say yes... but then...

"My answer is no!"

"What?"

"You plebs got a lotta nerve asking ME for a favor! Were you grubs in a past life? Is that why you don't understand human courtesy? I'll forgive you just this once. Now get outta here before I get the bug spray!" Miu yells the last part. I honestly feel the slightest bit... scared. "Hah-hahaha!"

Suddenly, Kaede's body moves on its own. She falls to the floor in a prostrate position in front of the inventor. 

The hell?

"Please, Miu!" Kaede begs as she continues to bows down.

"Heeeeeee!"

"I really want to get out of here with everyone else! And to do that, I need your help! Please! I'm begging you!"

"Kaede!" Saihara says in exasperation. He seems pretty surprised at what she did too.

Eventually, Saihara joins her too. He places his hands on the floor as he bow down down as well, leaving only myself.

What?

I guess I have no choice but to go along...

I end up doing the same thing. "I'm begging you too," Shuichi says.

"So... So am I." My cheeks tingle with embarrassment as I bow down. It's okay... Saihara's doing it too...

"K...Kokichi? You're doing it too?" Kaede asks in surprise.

"Your help... It's actually really important to us all. Having it would benefit you as much as us too," I say, speaking from my heart and not from my lies.

"Kokichi?" Even Saihara turns to my direction to see if what he's hearing is real. "I've never heard you like that..."

"Wh-What the hell? Quit bowing to me..." Miu finally says.

"No, I won't stop," Kaede protests. She's really stubborn, isn't she? "I'm gonna stay here till you say you'll do it! I'll do it for however long it takes!" She makes it sound like a threat.

"Wh-Who the hell uses bowing as a threat?" Miu hesitates for a long time before she continues. "F-Fine... I'll do it... Okay?"

"Wh-What?! Really?" Kaede's eyes widen as they sparkle in Miu's face. "Thank you!"

She eventually gets up from her position, me and Saihara along with her. "I owe you! Even after the killing game ends I'll owe you! Forever and ever and ever!"

"I-I'm not just doing this for you guys... My research lab just opened up, so... I was already thinkin' about checkin' it out..."

"Oh. Well, that's fine anyway! You're still helping us, so..."

"A-Anyway... bring me the security sensors and cameras before I change my mind. I'll be waiting in my research lab in the garden!"

With that, Miu leaves and heads out the door.

"Man, I neeeeever thought you'd be able to convince her. But then again, you guys are all so optimistic anyway, so..." I say.

"Hey, you bowed down with us too," Kaede protests.

"Huuh? When'd that happen?" I lie, putting my finger on my chin.

Saihara lets out a sigh. "Well, we should go get the stuff for Miu before she gets annoyed."

***

After we get the items for Miu, we agree that she would finish by tomorrow morning. She took the items and we all went back to our rooms.

Today's my last chance I can roam around before the time limit expires. I better make sure I don't forget anything...

**_ Free Time Start! _ **

I'm still kind of hungry, especially since the whole day me, Kaede, and Saihara were busy getting stuff for Miu. It's almost dinner time. I guess heading to the dining hall would be okay... And if there's extra time, I could go to Shuichi's. Wait, not if there's extra time. There's always extra time. Who cares about the nighttime announcement? You can still roam around, even if the gym and dining hall are off-limits.

When I arrive at the dining hall, I notice the only person there... is Saihara. I plop down next to him, eager to start talking for some reason.

"Heeey! Whatcha doin', sitting here eating all alone?" I ask playfully.

"I'm... sitting here eating all alone," he answers. He sounds very... monotone. Almost like it's fake. I look at him expectantly, and that's when I see his smile.

"Could I have some of that spaghetti?" I suddenly ask, looking at Shuichi's food with glimmering eyes.

"Huh? Why?"

"Weeellll... Kirumi's not here, so I don't really wanna... y'know, disturb her. Kirumi did make that, right?"

"Yeah, she did."

"Soo..." I continue looking at his spaghetti.

"Ah, okay, whatever." He pushes the food towards me and we eat from the same plate- yet the second time today.

"Man, this spaghetti is reeeeeeaaaally good!" I say with delight. "I'm not lying, if that's what you thought."

"No, I didn't think you were lying," Saihara says. "You don't usually lie when you're with me."

"Ohhh, so you did notice. I have a reason for that, you know." Not like I was going to tell him anytime soon though.

I expected Saihara to ask what the reason. is, but he never did. We continue eating the spaghetti (from the same plate of course) until, I realize we're eating the same strand of spaghetti.

_Yes! This is what I was waiting for!_

I pretend not to notice as the spaghetti strand draws us closer... and closer... and then...

Suddenly, Saihara bites the strand in half and slurps up the rest separately. He looks at my shocked face. "What?" He didn't realize, did he?

"..."

"I've never seen you like that before."

_I was so close... so close! and he had to ruin it..._

"It's alright, that part will just have to wait. Its only been a couple days, no one would agree to something like that..."

"What was that?" Saihara asks.

"Oh, nothing," I reply. How'd he hear that?

"Also, I forgot to, ah, tell you this morning, but you actually look kind of cool with my hat," Saihara says.

"R-Really?" I reply with delight. I fight hard to make it look like I don't care, but it's really hard to keep that bored look going when I'm near someone so interesting.

"Yeah. You actually look like a real detective," Saihara says. He gives me a kind smile then returns back to his food.

"Y-You... You think I'd be a good detective too?" I stammer.

"Well, you are certainly very good. Considering you came to many of the same conclusions I did without any help, and gave us further info, I'd say me and you are probably at the same level," Saihara explains.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I never thought myself that good at solving mysteries. I had street smarts and that was really it. "Maybe we should be partner detectives in crime! After the killing game ends, of course," I suggest.

"Aha, maybe... I always thought you struck me as the criminal type, though."

"Mm, really? Why?"

"I dunno, maybe it's your clothes, your personality, or that you're really good at lock picking," Saihara tells me.

"Nishishi! I guess that's just how I always am-"

_Ding dong bing bong!_

"Shit! Nighttime announcement! We better leave the dining hall!" Saihara realizes. 

"Oh, shoot! You're right!" I shout. I forgot we weren't allowed in the dining halls at night.

We run out of the dining hall as fast as we can and out into the courtyard area. "Man... that was a bit intense. More than what I'm used to," Saihara mutters while panting.

"Ooh! I wonder what would happen if we were caught? Don't you wonder the same?"

"Ah... not really...and I'd rather not think about the consequences anyway."

"It would be quite the twist, thought, huh?!" I say excitedly.

"Ouma..." Saihara murmurs.

"Huuuh?"

"You don't really find the killing game interesting, do you?" he asks. I don't say anything about his sudden change of subject. Do I need to tell the truth?

"...no." How could I? I would never want to watch something like this. "People think it's fun watching us kill each other? The thought pisses me off."

"Watching us? When did you get to a conclusion like that?" Saihara asks.

"Well, it seemed preeeetty obvious. Why else would Monokuma have a killing game? Highly gifted teenage students killing each other... there's probably cameras everywhere watching all of us," I explain.

Saihara starts to sit down on the grass and neither of us responds for some time. Eventually, the detective looks at the sky in wonder. "Wow... I don't remember when the stars here looked so lit up."

"Isn't that interesting," I say while looking up. "Are these the same stars that..." I don't finish my sentence.

"Huh?" Saihara looks at me. "What was that last part?"

"Oh, ah, nothing." Why did I say it like that? I sound like Saihara himself!

"Ah, it's fine if you don't want to tell me," Saihara replies.

Suddenly, a fiery streak zooms past our eyes. "A shooting star?! Did you make a wish Shuichi? Did you?" I say, sounding like a five-year old child.

"Yeah, I did."

"Ooh! What'd you wish for?"

"I wished that... we could all get out of here, and if we did, we could stay friends."

Friends? "Aww... thanks! I knew you were a lot better than mean old Kaede."

"Ah...If that's what you think, then okay," Saihara answers. We continue looking up at the sky in awe. Is it even real? Or is it just a lie? After a few more minutes, we both think it's about time to leave and get some sleep.

"Mm, yeah. Heading back to our rooms is a good idea," Saihara says.

"Alright!" I exclaim. We get up and head back to the dorm room. Ryoma, like us, is also outside. I start to walk past him, but Saihara stops.

"Ah... Hey, Ryoma."

"Hey, Shuichi. And Kokichi," he mutters. "Y'know, you guys always seem to be together."

"What? Really?" Saihara asks. "We're not always!"

"Maybe not always, but you guys are stuck together like glue. Hard to separate you two."

"Ah, okay. I guess, thinking about it now, it sort of makes sense." After a minute or two, we finish talking and head to or dorms.

"See you tomorrow, Ouma."

"See you."

"Hopefully."

"Hey, that's my line!" I exclaim, but Shuichi already left in his room.  I guess there'so nothing else to do, so I leave too.

 


	9. Ding Dong Dong Ding!

**Saihara's** **POV** :

_Ding dong bing bong!_

 

"Rise and shine, ursine!" exclaim the Monokubs as the morning announcement starts up. "Wake up, you bastards! It's 8 am!"

 

I let out a sigh as I get out of bed and start to get dressed. Today's the final day before the time limit. But oddly... I'm looking forward to it. Somehow, I have a feeling that the plan, me and Kokichi devised will stop the mastermind. Oh, right. Kaede also helped too, I guess.

 

One way or another, there's going to be less of us by the end of the day. I don't want to believe it, but I know no one wants to get us all killed. Just as I get my clothes on, someone arrives at my door.

 

_Ding dong!_

 

I rush to the door to see who rang the doorbell. "...Ah, Ouma. Good... Good morning." I wasn't surprised to see him, but... happy?

 

"Helloooooooo! Whatcha doin'?" Ouma asks, putting his hands behind his head as if leaning back on it.

 

"I was, ah, about to go to the dining hall. What else could I be doing?" I don't seem to understand what Ouma is getting at. He's probably trying to confuse me again. Before he can even respond, quick footsteps come up from the side of me.

 

"Shuichi!" Kaede exclaims, running up to me. "I came to your door and rang the bell, but you didn't answer. I was really starting to get worried."

 

"Ah, sorry. I was... using the bathroom." I explain as Kaede starts to pout.

 

"Hmph! Well, it looks like Kokichi got you out here anyway, so that works out just fine."

 

"Yeah, Kaede," Ouma says, trying to take some credit.

 

"H-Hey, don't be so mean about it, Kokichi. We're all trying to be friends and work together, remember?" Kaede says with a comforting and scolding tone at the same time. How does she do that?Certainly doesn't seem like she wants to be friends with Kokichi...

 

"Kaede, admit it. We're not going to make it all out of here alive," Ouma says, smile disappearing from his face. "At least one of us will be dead by the time this killing game ends."

 

"H-Huh? Why are you acting like this now? You're even helping us catch the mastermind!" Kaede asks in confusion.

 

"Well, duh, we should try. Whether you want to accept it or not- it is the truth. Lie about it all you want, but either way, someone will be dead by the end of today."

 

"K-Kokichi! Why are you saying that now, just as we're all getting our hopes up?" Kaede retorts with frustration. Suddenly, she looks at me with desperatjon. "Shuichi! You know how to resolve this!”

 

I definitely did not want to resolve this, but I didnt want to make the situation worse. "Ah, um, Ouma... I have to say you're right. I know you only wanted to inform Kaede. But... you didn't need to be so up in her face on it."

 

"Shuichi, why are you on his side!?” Kaede says in annoyance.

 

"H-Huh? Ah, did I say something wrong?!" I ask in confusion.

 

"No, you were right," Ouma says with a smile. "Anyways, there's a reason we're all gathered together, right, Kayayday?"

 

"Why'd you start pronouncing my name like that?" Kaede asks. "Whatever, that's beside the point. We still need to get the cameras from Miu in her research lab."

 

"Oh, right!" I realize. In all our arguing, I almost forgot. "Are you ready, then?"

 

"Yeah," Kaede and Ouma answer. With that, the three of us head to Miu's lab to retrieve the cameras. On the way, we bump into Angie, who seems enthusiastic to give up- something I didn't think would fit together.

 

"Hiiiiiii, you guys! Have you decided on how you want to spend your final moments? Maybe... you wanna pray to Atua with me?" she asks.

 

"F-Final moments?! You shouldn't be giving up that easy!" Kaede replies.

 

"Nyahahaha! True, true," Angie agrees. "You guys get along so well. Especially Shuichi and Kokichi."

 

"We... get along well?" I wasn't expecting everyone else to notice so quickly.

 

"Yeah! I was hopin' it'd rub off on the others in the dining hall."

 

"Huuh? That sounds interesting. What even happened?" Ouma asks Angie.

 

"Ummmm, they're fighting in the dining hall. Atua is really bummed out about it."

 

"Shuichi, could you get the stuff from Miu instead? I have to see what's happening," Kaede tells us.

 

"Wait, what about me?" Ouma asks.

 

"You're going with me, of course," Kaede replies.

 

"Why should I? Something's finally happened to break up all the boring tedium," he says.

 

"Ugh, then go with Shuichi! Let's meet up later at the classroom by the stairs to the basement."

 

"Ah, okay."

 

"Can do!" The two of us head in the direction of Miu's lab. After a couple minutes of silence, we arrive in front of a door.

 

Knock knock!

 

A moment passes, and Miu opens the door. "Oh, it's you two." She sounds a lot different then usual.

 

"Yeah. You finished the cameras, ah, right..?"

 

"Oh yeah, baby. I pulled an all-nighter on this one! Here you go!" After handing us the cameras and receiver, she explains a bit on how it works. She stops to take a yawn as she continues. "Also, there's a 30-second interval every time it takes pictures. But other then that, it's nothing short of what this amazing girl genius with the golden brain and gorgeous appearance can do!" With that, she closes the door, and the cameras are still in my hand.

 

"Man! I never thought the day would come- she didn't curse in a single conversation!" Ouma says.

 

"I was thinking the same thing." We start to head back to the dining hall as we continue talking.

 

"Well, it's probably since she's really tired. She did say she pulled an all-nighter..."

 

"Mm. Yeah. She must of worked really hard on these..." We arrive back at the area we had planned to meet back up, and Kaede's already back.

 

"Sorry I'm late..." I mutter as I enter the room.

 

"Don't worry. I just got here too. Did Miu finish the cameras?"

 

"Yeah... she gave it to us..." I stammer.

 

"She was so tired from pulling an all-nighter making 'em that she was too tired to even make fun of either of us!" Ouma explains.

 

I explain to Kaede how the cameras work, and she seems to like the idea. "It'll still make a flash when it takes a picture, but other then that I think'll be fine."

 

"Mm-hmm! We're gonna catch the mastermind... and then kill 'em! Now that's a good way to make excitement!" Ouma exclaims.

 

"Anyway... we need to set up the cameras in the library. C'mon, guys. We only have today before the time limit expires," Kaede says while gesturing us towards the door.

 

"Ah, right, I guess."

 

***

 

 

Ouma. Amami. Kaede. Kiibo. Miu. Kirumi. Himiko. Angie. Ryoma. Maki. Kaito. Gonta. Tenko. Tsumugi. Korekiyo.

And me.

"One of them... will be dead in the next hour."

 

"You don't need to worry, my Saihara-chan! None of us are gonna die!" Ouma says, trying to make my worries go away.

 

"Are you sure about that...?" I mutter to myself.

 

"Guys. It'll be fine. We just need to have hope! That's what's going to keep us moving forward!" Kaede says with optimism. I look at them as all my friends, but the next thing is, they could be killing me the next second. Or even... the other way around. I could even be killing-

 

"Don't think about it too much. I don't like seeing that frown always on your face," Ouma says. Since when did he care about that? I bet he's just as worried as I am..

 

Way to put it like that, all out there in the open... "I just..." I sigh and look at the ground. They're right, right? Nothing to worry about, right?

 

"Hey! I probably told you this before, but I think you look way cooler without your hat," Kaede says. I can tell she's changing the subject so I feel better, but I don't mind.

 

"Wh-What?"

 

"Heyyy, something we actually agree on!" Ouma exclaims with excitement. He offers Kaede a high-five, but she doesn't take it.

 

"I'm being serious." Kaede puts her hands together and behind her back as she speaks. "Maybe when we get out of here, you can show us what you look like without it."

 

"Maybe..." I mutter.

 

"You still really think you're gonna get out of here with this idea? I won't be surprised if we all get killed 'cause of it," Ouma argues.

 

"Huh? This again?" Kaede asks.

 

"You say we're all going to get out, but I know how you all really feel: scared. Scared to know if your close friend is a real friend, or a murderer ready to kill, or even worse... a mastermind who finds delight in this killing game," Ouma says. Obviously I don't say anything, but I get where he's looking at. It does seem quite unlikely we're actually going to get out, which leads me to ask another question...

 

"We've all heard you saying how dumb it is to assume we're going to get out. So then, why did you agree to work with us?" I ask Ouma. Kaede asked him this too, but he never gave a straight answer.

 

"Didn't I already tell you? I was seeing if you two dumbasses were stupid enough to go through with this plan! And, as I thought, you were right!" Ouma explains.

 

"So then, why haven't you left now?" Kaede looks to Kokichi for an answer.

 

"Nishihsi... considering one of you being the Ultimate Detective, you're really lousy at your job. If I left and a murder occurred, everyone would suspect I'm the culprit!"

 

"Hmm... Yeah, I'd say that does make s-"

 

"Aren't you lying?" I say, interrupting Kaede in the process.

 

"Huuuuh? About what?" Ouma says, putting his index finger on his chin.

 

"You said that you're helping us out because, quote 'you two dumbasses were stupid enough'. That's a lie, isn't it?"

 

"Oh, that? Of course that was a lie," Ouma says with a shrug.

 

"So what's the truth?" I ask.

 

"The real reason? Oh, well it was only because I wanted to spend time with y-"

 

"Wh-What is that weird music? Is it coming from that monitor?" Kaede suddenly says. Her eyes widen when she looks towards the monitor.

 

"Maybe it's a warning that we need to start killing. The time limit is almost up..." I say.

 

"Man, that music is as creepy as shit though!" Ouma says. He isn't wrong...

 

"Th-They need to stop screwing with us! How much suffering do they want from us?!"

 

"Wait... I think I hear something. People talking in the hallway," I say, hearing the distant conversation from outside the classroom.

 

"Hmm... Maybe we should eavesdrop on them!" Ouma exclaims.

 

"Not so loud!" Kaede whisper-yells. We walk towards the door where the sound is coming from. I tried my best to listen further while I peered through the gap in the classroom door- and I saw a group of people. 

 

"Kaito, Gonta, Maki... Tenko, Angie, Himiko and... Rantaro, too?" Kaede says. They were all walking downstairs.

 

"What's a big group like that planning to do?" I ask. Amami was with them... and didn't he say he was going to end the game? He did admit he knew about the mastermind...

 

"Nishishi... maybe they're planning to kill someone!" Ouma wonders aloud.

 

"It's almost nighttime, right? If they're all heading to the basement right now... Could the mastermind be with them too?" Kaede asks us.

 

"Well, it is unusual... for such a big group to go to the basement," I point out.

 

"Hey, I know! They're probably having some kind of meeting to kill the mastermind!" Ouma says.

 

"That's actually... not a bad idea."

 

"Well, either way..." I say, "If they're planning to go to the library, that would be pretty bad..."

 

"What?" Kaede and Ouma say in unison.

 

"I'm going to check out the basement!" I say. "Ouma, you can come with me too."

 

"I'll come too!" Kaede says.

 

"No! You need to stay and keep watch," I say. With that, the two of us leave to go see what happened. The group has already made its way downstairs, so we head downstairs too, and try to catch up with them. Amami is trailing at the back, so I go up to him first.

 

"Hey! R-Rantaro!" I call out.

 

"Hm?" He turns around in surprise. "Oh, it's just you and Kokichi."

 

"Oh! Rantaro! We had a question for you," Ouma says as we walk alongside him.

 

"What is it?"

 

"Well... we were wondering where you and this big group are going," I say.

 

"Oh, well... Kaito planned to meet up in the Game Room and have a strategy meeting," he explains. "A guy who can't even remember his own talent can't do much, right? So having a group is better. You guys are welcome to join if you'd like."

 

"Ohhhh! I get it! But then, why isn't everyone here?" Ouma asks.

 

"Well, that's 'cuz Kaito only picked who he thought could fight." Rantaro lowers his voice to a whisper as he continues. "I don't know exactly why he picked Himiko, though. I think Tenko just dragged her along."

 

"Oh. Okay. We just wanted to know so we could tell Kaede," I tell Rantaro.

 

"That makes sense." We start to head back to the classroom, but Rantaro stops us.

 

"What now?" Ouma says.

 

"Just... I really do have a plan to defeat the mastermind. Problem is, you two and Kaede are the only others who know about it. So anyway... If it doesn't work, then maybe your plan will." Rantaro gives the two of us a smile, then turns away from us and walks to the Game Room.

 

"Man... now I really do hope his plan works! It'd be a shame if it doesn't," Ouma says jokingly.

 

"Well, we should go tell Kaede what we found out." I let out a sigh as we head back up the stairs and into the classroom.

 

"Oh good! You two are back!" Kaede exclaims. She must've felt so scared... since she was alone. We explain to her what Rantaro said about what the group is doing.

 

"Right... there's only an hour till the time limit expires."

 

"Yep! So that's why they all got a plan to stop the mastermind!" Ouma says.

 

"Ah!" I feel a beep in my pocket and pull out the receiver. My heart nearly fell out of my chest as I stared at the receiver.

 

"Sh-Shuichi! The receiver!" Kaede points to it, as if I couldn't tell it was beeping already.

 

"Guys! You two are slowpokes! I'm headin' to the library!" Ouma calls out from the stairs. I hear quick running after that.

 

"Hurry! We have to go, Kaede!" I say as I sprint out of the classroom behind Ouma.

 

"W-Wait for me!" Kaede says, but I continue running, my heart beating faster with every step. Did we catch the mastermind? Or not?

 

The three of us near the library until we're standing right next to the door. "I guess this is it..." I mutter as I reach my hand towards the doorknob.

 

"Huh? What are you guys doing here?" i hear someone say. “Well, never mind. Your timing's perfect. You should join our strategy meeting."

 

"Kaede is definitely welcome to join!" Tenko says with a smile.

 

"Strategy meeting?" Kaede asks.

 

"When the time limit hits, we're gonna fight Monokuma! We gotta plan for that battle! We thought it'd be harder for Monokuma to get to the basement, so we're going to the Game Ro-"

 

"H-Hold on! Both of you, come with us! The mastermind is in the library!" Kaede says urgently.

 

"Huh...? Mastermind?" Tenko asks in confusion.

 

"Well explain later, but right now, we need you to come with us. We... might really be able to end this killing game," I say.

 

"A-Are you serious?" Kaito asks in surprise.

 

"I-I don't really understand, but you just need me to Aikido throw whoever's inside, right?!" Tenko asks.

 

"No! I'll be the one to throw them down!" Kaito argues.

 

"This isn't a competition! I'm gonna open the door right now, okay?" Kaede says in frustration. Her anxiety had been replaced by her determination to unveil the mastermind.

 

"Wait! What happened to Ouma?" I ask. Everyone looks around. He's nowhere to be seen. "He was with us when he came down here..."

 

"Shuichi! Stop changing the subject! Kokichi probably went inside when we were talking! I'm opening the door now, 'kay?"

 

We stepped into the library. All eyes fell on the moving bookcase. It was closing, without any outside help.

 

"Where is... the mastermind?" I ask. We quickly walked to the moving bookcase. I could hear Ouma muttering quietly. I looked to the left of the moving bookcase to see where he was. And I saw...

 

"Oh, Rantaro...?"

 

"What in the world? What the hell is going on?"

 

"Ah... aaah... AAAH!"

 

He's not dead... Rantaro... he can't be dead. Rantaro doesn't die that easily, does he? "N...No..." I mutter. "Not yet!" He had a plan! He was supposed to catch the mastermind. We never even found out his talent.

 

I remember the last conversation I had with him. It was only a few minutes ago. And the last thing he told me and Ouma... “If it doesn’t work, maybe your plan will.”

 

"He's dead. I already checked. Well, we should've been expecting this! Obviously, someone was gonna die. It just happened to be... him." Even Ouma can't bear to say his name.

 

"GYAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Tenko yells in horror. Right after she yells, we hear footsteps, and the four people in the Game Room rushed in.

 

"Nyeeeh...?" Himiko says, not realising what happened.

 

"Huhhhh? Isn't that Rantaro? What's wrong with him?" Angie asks.

 

"...He's dead," Maki confirms. "Kokichi already said so."

 

"Whaaaat? He's dead? Well, that's unfortunate." For a second, I wish Angie died instead of Rantaro. Doesn't she have the slightest bit of feeling?

 

"How can you be so calm?" Gonta cries out nervously.

 

I inspect the body and check for breathing, just to make sure. I wasn't expecting any different. "We're too late. Rantaro Amami, the Ultimate ???, is dead."


	10. Investigation Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The students start the investigation.

**Ouma’s POV:**

Rantaro is dead.

 

There was no mistaking it. I knew this was going to happen, so why do I feel... sad about it?!

 

_Ding dong dong ding!_

 

"What?" Saihara asks to no one in particular. Everyone looks at the monitor.

 

"A body has been discovered!" Monokuma exclaims. As if we didn't know that already..."Everyone, please gather in the library!" Then the monitor shut off again, leaving everyone confused. Suddenly Monokuma appeared again, but this time in person, right next to Rantaro's body.

 

"What a relief! A murder took place before the time limit ran out!" Monokuma announced in his high-pitched voice.

 

"H-Huh? But how?" Kaede’s desperate. Desperate for something other than the truth.

 

"I gotta admit, I was a bit nervous. Geez... you guys really know how to keep me in suspense," Monokuma continues.

 

"H-How? The mastermind controlling you is..."

 

"Mastermind? You think it was Rantaro? Ahh... what an imagination! Of course it's wrong!"

 

"B-But..."

 

"If the mastermind was killed, then the killing game would be over." So he acknowledges the fact there is a mastermind. "The victim was Rantaro Amami, the Ultimate 'Who Cares?' Nothing more, nothing less."

 

Soon, everyone else comes in after hearing the announcement.

 

"Kyahhhhh!" Tsumugi yells in terror. She must be scared of dead bodies or something.

 

"That's Rantaro? I thought th-that was a pile of dirty rags!" Miu cries out.

 

"Anyway... since there's the motive of the First Blood Perk, there will be no class trial!" Monokuma exclaims. "So, if you're the blackened who killed Rantaro, raise your hand!"

 

"The one who... killed Rantaro?" Tsumugi wonders.

 

Everyone looks around at each other, but no one raises their hand.

 

"I bet a degenerate male killed him!"

 

"How you know boy do it?"

 

"I just know, okay? Violent crimes are almost always committed by disgusting men!"

 

"Tch... that dumbass! How dare he go get himself killed!" Kaito mutters.

 

Eventually, even the Monokubs come, but no one raises their hands. They have the opportunity to leave the school, but they're not taking it. I bet it's because the killer is the mastermind! They don't need to escape, because they're the ones behind all this!

 

I'm surprised no one raised their hand even if they didn't do it. That way, they could get out for free. For a second, I consider raising my hand, but I didn't want to take the risk of getting myself killed because I lied about being the killer.

 

"Puhuhu... It seems like the blackened would rather have a class trial!" Monokuma concludes. "Very well, then. I will give the blackened what they want and hold a class trial!"

 

"Eh?!"

 

"Wait, what the hell is going on?!"

 

"It's like we explained before," Monotaro says. "Get it right, and only the blackened gets punished. Get it wrong..."

 

"Everyone besides the blackened... gets killed."Kaede says, finishing the sentence.

 

"This outcome is much worse. The culprit should have just stepped forward," Maki deduces.

 

"But before we have a class trial, you gotta have an investigation. If you don't investigate the murder, you won't be able to argue who did it."

 

"So you're saying we need to do the investigation ourselves, too," Ryoma confirms.

 

"Of course! The investigation is what makes the killing game so good! You guys are gonna investigate this crime and uncover the truth!" Monokuma explains.

 

"..."

 

"Puhuhu... This blackened's handiwork has made this much more entertaining then I expected...All right! The trial will begin soon, so please give the investigation your all!" With that, Monokuma disappears, leaving us to start investigating.

 

"Well, let's get going then!" I say in excitement. No one knows where to start, though.

 

"Do not fret. Just imagine this as something out of a police drama or detective manga," Kirumi says sternly. "Right, Shuichi?"

 

"I'm in trouble... I haven't read or watched either!" Kiibo says.

 

"Yeah, this is exactly why a robot shouldn't even be in this killing game! First of all, you're too strong. And you're too hard to kill!" I tell him.

 

"I told you this already! I only have the strength of the average human being!"

 

"This doesn't need to be complicated. All we need to do is converse with the corpse," Korekiyo says. He raises his hands and extends his arms as if he's praising somebody. "Yes! By coming face to face with the corpse, you will learn a great many things!" He sounds... excited. What a weirdo.

 

"Eeeny, meeny, miney, moe... Who's the culprit? Only Atua knows..."

 

"You no can choose that way!" Gonta cries out. I narrowed my eyes, watching the chaos unfold. Is this what Monokuma wants? 

 

"Ahaha, everyone's competing to see who's the most paranoid. Yeah, that's not boring," I finally say, desperately wanting to contribute something. 

 

Finally, Kaede solves everything with another one of her "motivational speeches", and gets everyone's hopes up.

 

"We need to do this. So poor Rantaro won't have any regrets... and so we can survive," Tsumugi says. Doesn't she hate him? I remember her even calling him stupid before his death...

 

Everyone agrees, and with that, the investigation begins.

 

—

 

After some time, Monokuma appeared, holding what looked like a bunch of tablets. "Dun dun dunnnnn! It's a notebook that can kill anyone whose name is in it!"

 

Tsumugi's eyes widen in surprise. "Could it be? The Death N-"

 

"Puhuhu... I was kidding. These'll just give you some info on the death." He handed us what he called the Monokuma Files, which gave us a little knowledge of the death.

 

“The victim was Rantaro Amami. The estimated time of death is 9:10 p.m. The victim was subjected to blunt force trauma in the back of the skull, resulting in cranial fractures and immediate death. No other injuries were detected.”

 

Nothing less then what I was expecting. I fight to keep a playful smile while I investigate the situation. I thing is... I actually saw part of the murder. Since I had gone into the library before Kaede and Saihara, I had seen part of what had happened. They had only seen the library door closing, but I didn't. Someone had thrown a shot-put ball from the door, and then they did something to the murder scene. It was really dark in the library though, so I only saw the silhouettes of the two. But I think Rantaro saw me too... moments before his death...

 

Whatever I saw in the library was not meant to be seen, that was for sure. I considered telling everyone I saw the silhouette of the culprit, but I wasn’t sure they’d believe me. And besides, if I revealed it in the class trial, that would be interesting too.

 

I didn’t remember much about what the silhouette looked like. All I remember is a skirt and long hair. There were multiple people that fit that description: Tenko, Maki, Miu, and Tsumugi.

 

Well, Tenko was outside the hall with Kaito, Kaede, and Saihara, right? So that means that means she probably couldn't be the culprit. That narrows it down to Maki, Miu and Tsumugi. I suspect Miu a lot, because she made the cameras, andshe could've done something that, I dunno, made it so the cameras didn't take a picture of her killing Amami.

 

First, I checked the body. His head and neck were all bloody from the murder, which makes sense from the Monokuma File. There was also a bloody shot put ball next to him. That must have been the murder weapon.

 

Then I looked around the library. Like Shuichi said from the beginning, there were stacks of books atop every bookshelf except the moving one. There was also a vent above it.

 

There were also two ways to enter the library. The main entrance was two double doors directly across the moving bookcase, but there was also a rear entrance that had sliding doors near Rantaro's body. I guess there's nothing left to investigate here. I should go check out the Game Room. There were a crazy number of people there, right?

 

I head downstairs, where I find Maki. "Oh, its you." She doesn't seem very interested to see me.

 

"You really thought I came here to kill you or something? No, I just wanted to ask you a few questions."

 

"You think I'm the culprit?" she asks looking up at me. Her eyes seem redder then normal.

 

"Nishishi... I suspect everyone, not just you."

 

"Well, you should suspect everyone. Even if they're not suspicious." Those two sentences seem to contradict each other, but I don't say anything about it.

 

"Anyway, so what were you and that huge group all doing here? Did you guys secretly plan to kill Mr. Avacado?"

 

"Mr. Avacado..? You mean Rantaro? No, he was part of the group. Kaito, Gonta, Tenko, Angie, Himiko, me, and Rantaro. Kaito wanted to have a strategy meeting, he picked the people who seemed to be able to fight."

 

"Okay. But some of those people..." I trail off.

 

"Yeah, Kaito thought Himiko's magic and Angie's connection to Atua would be helpful in a fight," Maki says with a shrug.

 

"He believed that shit?"

 

"Pretty much. I guess he's a bit of an idiot sometimes."

 

"Why'd he pick you? You're the Ultimate Child Caregiver, right? Nothing other then that?" Of course she isn't that. That was a huge lie.

 

"Yes, I am. As for how he picked me... Kaito just looked at me and said, 'Yeah, you can fight,'"Maki explains. "Also, Gonta never joined the meeting."

 

"Whaaat? My precious Gonta... could've killed my also precious Rantaro?" Gonta does have long hair, but I'm sure that he didn't have a skirt on. I knew he probably wasn’t the culprit.

 

"Well, you should definitely consider him a suspect. He locked himself in the A/V room during the entire meeting. Then, Rantaro said he needed to use the bathroom. When he didn't come back, Kaito and Tenko left to go get him. And now, he's dead."

 

"Okay. Well, that's all I wanted to get out of you. See you at your execution."

 

"Huh?" Maki starts to ask, but I've already waved goodbye and left into the A/V room. As I walked in, I heard Gonta and Kaito arguing with each other.

 

"Wait! Gonta not murder anyone!" Gonta says defensively.

 

"Hey! I said, I just wanted to talk for a minute!" Kaito argues.

 

"Gonta, you wanna know the truth?" I ask. He leans down so I can whisper into his ear, but I say it loud enough so Kaito can hear. "Kaito's actually the culprit, and he's trying to frame you for it."

 

"You... You kill Rantaro? You horrible person!" Gonta exclaims in Kaito's face. They start making a huge argument, in which I found out Gonta came in the A/V room because he wanted to watch bug movies. There's also a door leading out of it, but it only opens enough for someone's arm to fit through. Right across from it is the rear door to the library. Hmm, this might prove useful in the trial.

 

I looked at some of the other stuff in the room. If you roll up the projector, it could be used as a long pole.

 

There was also a bunch of movie posters in a nearby box. I picked up one at random. "Ultra Despair Girls 2.. Coming soon..?" It looks like a game... but I've never heard of it before. The poster is almost completely bright pink, with the silhouettes of a high school girl with a megaphone and a serial killer. Sounds like a lame spin-off.

 

The next thing I do is investigate the classroom where we were keeping watch. I find Kiibo, Kaede, and Saihara. They were talking about their alibis.

 

"Yes, we had alibis the entire time, except whenever me and Ouma went to the basement to see what was happening," Saihara explains.

 

"Mm. Okay. You guys seem the least likely to be the culprit anyway," Kiibo says.

 

"Besides that, we were together the entire time until the receiver went off," Shuichi says.

 

While they were talking, I looked around the room. There was a vent near the bottom of the classroom. I feel like I've seen that lead somewhere, but I'm not sure where.

 

"That was the vent that leads to the air duct in the basement hallway. It leads to the library."

 

"Huuuh? Someone could've crawled through there!"

 

"No, I don't think so. I recall Kaede checked it at one point, but only someone as small as a baby could even fit." What about Ryoma? "And anyway, at least one person was inside the classroom this whole time. So nobody could've crawled in there.”

 

I look back at the others. At some point, Korekiyo must have walked in, because he's now standing and inspecting the situation. I walk up to him to hear his account.

 

"Keheheh... You wish to hear my alibi, correct?" he asks, his breathy laugh sounding a bit creepy.

 

"I'm surprised you knew."

 

"Well.., to briefly state the truth, when the body discovery announcement played, I was in the dining hall, eating supper. The other people there were Miu, Kirumi, and Tsumugi." Two people I suspect were there... Miu and Tsumugi.

 

"The Monokubs prepared the meal for me. It was listed on the menu as... Pasta that tastes like a lonely old lady eating her grandkid's birthday cake, or somesuch..." What a horrible name. Nothing less then what I expected from the Monokubs, though.

 

"...That pasta sounds depressing," I hear Kaede say with a laugh. She must have been also listening to Kiyo.

 

"That concludes my alibi... I do hope it can be of some help," Korekiyo says.

 

"And what about the people around you? Did you notice anything in particular?" Saihara asks. He must have been listening too...

 

"Ah, if there was something to note, it would be that Miu was tinkering with something or the other. There was also a brief period of time when Tsumugi left to use the restroom."

 

"The restroom, huh? Interesting," Kaede notes.

 

"Yep, this investigation is definitely not boring at all!" I exclaim with excitement.

 

"That's not what I meant..." Kaede says in annoyance.

 

"I don't mean to cut in, but... the thing Miu was tinkering with was the drone that she was going to map out the floor plan with, right?" Saihara questions.

 

"Most likely, yeah," Kaede agrees.

 

"I'm wondering about what happened with Tsumugi. I bet she's the culprit!" I conclude.

 

"I don't think you should jump to conclusions so quickly..." Saihara mutters.

 

"Well, she is the Ultimate Cosplayer," Kaede remarks. "She could've disguised herself as someone."

 

Why would she need to do that? What use would there be in disguising herself? She could just kill him and not do anything, right?! And- it also matches my account- long hair, and she wears a skirt!

 

I then heard Kaede talk to Kiibo. He said he didn't have an alibi. So he could also be suspicious. But then again, he has flashing lights and all that. If he had killed Rantaro, I would've seen the glow from his lights, right?

 

"Hey, Kokichi..." Kaede asks me.

 

"What?"

 

"Didn't we all agree we would investigate with at least one other person?" Kaede asks me sternly.

 

"Ooooh, did we? Well, just because we agreed doesn't mean we have to do it, right?" I argue.

 

"Why do you always make it seem like you want everyone to be suspicious of you?" Kaede asks.

 

"Cuz I'm an evil supreme leader, remember? I'm supposed to be suspicious!" I smirk at Kaede and extend my arms for emphasis.

 

"Anyway, we have a question for you," Saihara says.

 

"Ooh! An interrogation from the Ultimate Detective himself! What an honor!" He's probably going to ask for an alibi, even though he was with me pretty much the whole time.

 

"What were you doing at the time of Rantaro's death?"

 

"What I was doing?" I repeat. "To tell you the truth...I was smashing Rantaro's head, of course!" I laugh.

 

Saihara frowns. "Please, be serious."

 

"God, Saihara, are you blind? Remember, I obviously went in the library a bit before you guys."

 

"So you saw his body first, before anyone else?"

 

"Other then the culprit, yeah."

 

"And you didn't see anything else?"

 

"Y'know, I'd rather reveal it at the class trial. That's waaaaay more interesting!" I say

 

"Ugh! Quit screwing around and just tell us!" Kaede says.

 

"Mannn, you guys are getting so mad at me, but there's probably someone who's the culprit who lied to you. Go get mad at them."

 

"H-Huh? What do you mean?" Saihara asks. I repeat it again, and then he realizes what I meant.

 

"And anyway, this is a game. Enjoy it while you can! Nishishi... I can't wait for the class trial to start already."

 

"C'mon Saihara. There's no use talking to him. I dunno why you even let him join us in our plan, because he ended up being a pain in the butt!"

 

"R-Really...? I... I think you're just mad. Ouma helped out a bunch. I don't know if we would even be able to finish without him."

 

"Yeah, Kaede. Sometimes I think you just want to get so mushy with Saihara over here, so you don't want me interfering. But I don't want either of you two doing anything naughty, do I?"

 

"Wh-What?! That's it! I'm leaving!" Kaede exclaims as she rushes back outside into the hallway.

 

Saihara lets out a sigh. "Okay, then."He waves a small goodbye, and then leaves out the hallway.

 

There was only one more person to talk to- Tsumugi. I head to the library, where I remember seeing her earlier. She was busy talking to Kaede and Saihara.

 

"I guess she couldn't have disguised herself after all..." Kaede says in disappointment.

 

People are so stupid! She didn't need to disguise herself to kill Rantaro!

 

Just as I open my mouth to get Tsumugi's account, I hear a familiar sound. The bell.

 

"Huh? That chime..." Kaede remarks, apparently recognizing it. Everyone in the room peers at the monitor, where all the Monokubs sit.

 

"It's time, you bastards! Time for the long awaited class trial!" Monotaro announces.

 

"No, it's not! We're just announcing that the photos are ready! Don't interrupt meee!" Monophanie says in annoyance. "Anyway, I'll be waiting at the warehouse."

 

"So long! Bear well!" the Monokubs finish as the monitor turns off.

 

—

 

Everyone gathers in the warehouse, eager to find new clues on the culprit. The first four photos were from the front entrance. Saihara pulled out the first one for everyone to see.

 

"Oh, it's me?" I ask. The picture showed none other then myself, walking into the library.

 

"Only Kokichi, though? That's odd."

 

"He's probably the culprit!"

 

"N-No!" Saihara argues. "Whenever me and Kaede were talking to Kaito and Tenko outside the library, we were telling them that the mastermind was in there and we needed to go right away. Ouma didn't really care, and just went in before us."

 

"Are you sure about that?"

 

"Atua says you're probably lying..."

 

"No, Shuichi's right!" Kaede says. "Kokichi was with us at first! Right, Kaito!"

 

"Yeah!" Kaito agrees.

 

"You shouldn't trust such degenerate makes!" Tenko argues. "But I did see Kokichi before he walked in, so..."

 

"Okay, that settles it," Saihara says. "Let's move onto the next picture."

 

"That's no help," Saihara remarks. "Those were just everyone that came after hearing Tenko's scream."

 

"Mm, yeah..."

 

"Let's move onto the next one."

 

"And... this is everyone else after the body discovery announcement."

 

"There's one more. Maybe that one will have the culprit."

 

"Ah, let's find out..."

 

 

 

"Huh? Shuichi?"

 

"Ah, um, that was probably whenever I was taking the camera out. Sorry. Those were all from the front entrance, so let's look at the ones from the rear door," Shuichi says.

 

"Maybe we'll find Rantaro there!"

 

"And the culprit!"

 

Saihara pulls out the two photos from the rear entrance stack and shows one of them to everyone. It was a photo of Rantaro!

 

"R-Rantaro!"

 

"So he came in through there..."

 

"He probably didn't want anyone to notice, that's why..."

 

"Maybe the other picture is of the culprit!"

 

"Alright, let's find out..." Saihara pulls out the other photo to show. "Ah, sorry, it's me again..."

 

"What an attention hog."

 

"He had no choice. To get the film, he had to take out the camera, and therefore trigger the motion sensor."

 

"But isn't that kind of-"

 

"Well, let's move onto the last ones. There were from the side view. " Saihara pulls out the last set of pictures to show.

 

"Oh! That's when Rantaro opened the door!"

 

"Looks like it."

 

"But where's the culprit, then? Shouldn't they be pictured too?"

 

"I'm not sure... maybe they're in the next one."

 

"Huh? Why's Rantaro so close up like that?"

 

"He must've seen the camera.”

 

"Yeah... and he was probably trying to take it off, wasn't he?"

 

"Oh, right. Whenever I took this camera off, the motion sensor was turned off. So that's why there's no picture of me taking it off."

 

Man, Rantaro! If you didn't turn that thing off, we would've gotten a picture of the culprit!

 

"Well, that seems to be all the photos."

 

"That didn't seem to help very much."

 

"Hey, any additional evidence is helpful!"

 

"Ugh! I bet Monophanie just got rid of all the photos that had the culprit!" Kaito complains loudly.

 

"How rude! I developed all the film given to me!" Monophanie says in annoyance.

 

"Nyeeeeh... so this is what they call a perfect crime," Himiko mutters.

 

"Aw man, I've only been slacking off cuz I thought the photos would reveal the culprit!" I say sadly. What I said was true- in a way.

 

"You should've helped us investigate!" Tenko says. If I did, she wouldn't let me do anything because I'm a "degenerate male" anyway, so who's the point?

 

"Oh, by the way... Rantaro had his Monopad the whole time, didn't he? Do you think anything was in it?" I note.

 

"I doubt it had anything to do with the case. He simply had his Monopad on him," Korekiyo confirms.

 

"Awww, it's got nothing to do with the case? How confusing," I say.

 

"I also checked his Monopad. There was nothing suspicious about it," Saihara says. He looks towards Kaede, who looks sick to her stomach. Probably is. "Kaede, are you okay...?"

 

"Why wasn't the mastermind in any of the photos?" I couldn’t help but wonder why she was so desperate.

 

"Yeah... if only they were, we would've had the culprit," Saihara says. Everyone continues to comfort Kaede until...

 

“Ding ding bing bong!”

 

The monitor turns on and everyone looks in that direction. "Alright!! It's time for what you've all been waiting for-- the class trial! Please assemble in front of the Shrine of Judgement in the courtyard! Remember that red door surrounded by plants? It's just on the other side. From there, you'll be escorted to a delightful class trial! Puhuhuhu! See you all there!" Monokuma announces with delight. With that, the monitor shuts off.

 

"T-Time already...?!" Gonta asks in shock.

 

"It seems we have no choice but to continue this discussion at the class trial," Kirumi concludes.

 

Tsumugi sighs. "I don't want to go..."

 

Himiko looks to the ground. "Me neither... What a pain..."

 

"Hah-haha! What, ya scared?! An NPC like you has nothin' to be scared of!" Miu says teasingly.

 

"I-It'll be fine..." Kaede assures. "I just... feel like my back is up against the wall. We just need to expose the mastermind in the class trial! And then everything... including this killing game... will come to an end."

 

"Yes, that's right," Kiibo agrees.

 

"Let's find this mastermind! And if it's a man, let's beat him to death!" Tenko says determinedly.

 

"Isn't beating to death going a bit far?" Ryoma mutters.

 

Everyone follows Monokuma's instructions and walks to the courtyard.

 

The class trial was about to begin.


	11. Let's Argue About Usless Knowledge! Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The class trial begins.

**Saihara's POV:**  
"So this is the Shrine of Judgement..." Kaito remarks while looking around.

"Careful, everyone! If bad things happen, get behind Gonta!"

"Then gimme a piggy-back ride!" Angie says. "C'mon, carry me."

"Omigod, you are so fucking annoying! So are we doin' the class trial here or what?" Miu complains.

"No, Monokuma made it sound like we'd be guided somewhere from here," Ryoma says in his deep voice.

"But Monokuma is nowhere to be seen. What's going on...?" I'm not sure if Kirumi is talking to herself or the others.

No one says anything else, so I take a look at the Monokuma statue. It seems to give off a weird vibe...

_*RMM-BMM-BMM-BMM!*_

"Wah! Wh-What?!" Kaede asks in confusion next to me.

Suddenly, the trophy cup that Monokuma was holding breaks, and the statue... moves...? It points at us, then crosses its arms and sinks downward. What was that supposed to mean? We're... going down?

A bridge opens up where the statue just was, and behind it open two doors. "Is this... an elevator?" Kaede asks.

"Does he want us to board it?" Kiibo wonders.

"I don't wanna... I don't do scary rides," Himiko mumbles.

"I... don't want to get on it either," Tsumugi agrees.

"Stay behind, then. Though I'm sure that'll just be worse for you in the end," Maki says coldly.

"Yeah, that's true... I know..." Tsumugi mutters.

"It'll be fine... Let's all work together," Kaede says like usual. "Remember our promise? We're gonna escape this place and remain good friends afterward... So let's do it! I'm sure we'll be alright! Because... we make such an incredible team."

"Heh, I wouldn't be able to call myself a man if I was still scared of hearing a girl say that. Bring it! I'll show them how I, Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars, live!"

"Don't you mean, 'die'?" Ouma laughs.

"Don't say something all ominous like that!" Kaito exclaims in annoyance.

"We have no choice... We can't turn back now..." I mutter. Determined, everyone boarded the elevator, ready to face the class trial. Once everyone was on it, the elevator started moving downwards.

"Whoaaa! That's super cool. It's actually an elevator," Kokichi remarks.

"E-Even so, this elevator is going pretty far down..." Tenko says with nervous optimism.

"Kehehe... We're falling... I wonder how far we will plummet," Korekiyo says.

"Nyeeeeh... I suddenly have to go to the bathroom real bad..." Himiko complains.

"By all means, go right ahead," Kiibo replies.

"Of course! A robot wouldn't understand how inappropriate that is!" Kokichi says.

After what seemed like an eternity of silence, the elevator came to a halt. The doors slowly opened to reveal what awaited us on the other side...

"Welcome to the class trial!" all the Monokubs say in unison.

"Oh boy, the class trial is finally starting! Finally, a game that feels like a game!" Monotaro says with enthusiasm.

"Listen up-- from here on, things are gonna get so violent you'll wish you could turn back," Monosuke says while straightening his glasses.

"Th-That's not true... There won't be any gory or violent scenes... I'm positive..." Monophanie stammers.

"Why are you doing this? Is this fun for you?" Kaede yells out.

Suddenly, Monokuma appears out of nowhere. "Of course! Real life-or-death games are the best form of entertainment!"

"Y-You're horrible!" Kaede cries out.

"Wow, this is so sickening it's almost refreshing. So, how do we get this game going?" Ouma asks. He says that like... he enjoys the killing game. But didn't he tell me himself, that he thinks it's stupid? Or was he just saying that to agree with me and was lying? Or maybe he's lying now?

"There are podiums over there. Please go stand next to the one that has your name on it." Following Monokuma's instructions, we headed to or respective podiums. As I did, I thought of Rantaro. He died... without ever knowing his Ultimate talent.

No... he didn't die... he was murdered. Murdered by someone here. That's what we're going to expose in the class trial!

"Ahem! Now then, let's begin with a basic explanation of the class trial! During the trial you'll present your argument for who the culprit is, and vote for " **whodunnit** ". Vote correctly, and only the blackened will be punished. But if you vote the wrong person... I'll punish everyone _besides_ the blackened, and that person will graduate from this academy! Also, refusing to vote will result in your **death** , so you better vote for someone! Now les get this crazy, awesome, crazy-awesome trial underway!" Monokuma announces with delight.

"So, it's starting, huh?" Kaede confirms.

"Ah-haha, I haven't been in a trial in, like, forever!" Ouma laughs.

"Oh, so you have experience with trials?" Tsumugi asks.

"Yeah, since I'm a leader of evil and stuff. I do a loooot of bad things," he answers.

"So, where are we supposed to start?"

"Gonta never done trial before... Not sure where to begin."

"We should not worry about our procedure. Especially since this is not a normal trial. Each of us will be serving as a potential culprit, lawyer, prosecutor, and jury member. Let us proceed with that in mind, shall we?" Kirumi explains.

"Then might I offer the first topic?" Korekiyo suggests.

No one objects, so he goes ahead and starts. "I'll begin the conversation, then. There's something... I found curious-Why, I wonder, didn't the culprit take advantage of the First Blood Perk?"

"I thought that was strange too!" Tsumugi agrees.

"I bet they just wanted to do a class trial real bad..."

"Then I bet Monokuma's the culprit! Duh-doy! Cuz this whole class trial was his idea!" Miu deduces. "Hoo-yeah! Easy-peasy! I'm a fuckin' genius!"

"Wait, is that even possible?"

"Of course not! I would _never_ do anything to you guys directly," Monokuma responds.

"Even if you can't, it's a different story for the person controlling you, right?" Kaede asks.

"Hm?"

"Is it possible that the culprit who killed Rantaro is the mastermind controlling Monokuma?"

"Mastermind? Wuzzat?" Monokuma questions, as if he's confused. _He seemed to acknowledge the fact that there was a mastermind during the investigation. Why is he acting as if that never happened now?_

"The mastermind, huh? And it's one of us?"

"It's Kee-boy over here! Everyone else agrees too!" Ouma exclaims.

"Does everyone really think that..?!"

"Before we determine the mastermind, we must uncover the culprit."

"Let's look over the sequence of events, then," I start.

"Rantaro's body... It was found just before the time limit, right?"

"Yes... he was **killed in the library**."

"Rantaro was alone in the library. The culprit could've snuck up on him!"

"What was he even doing there?"

"Rantaro was opening the bookcase to reveal the hidden door... That must mean... **Rantaro was masterminding** the whole thing!" Kaito concludes.

"No, that's wrong!" Kaede cuts in. " I don't think Rantaro was the mastermind!"

"Huh? Why?!"

"Because... Rantaro didn't have the **card key** to open the hidden door. Also, if he really was the mastermind, then the killing game would be over, right?"

"Also, none of the pictures showed him with the card key. So I don't think Rantaro had the card key at all," I add.

"Then how Rantaro know about hidden door?" Gonta asks.

"He probably stumbled across it in the library. Y'know, like, me and Shuichi and Kaede did."

"What if the mastermind told him?" Ryoma suddenly questions.

"Huh?"

"That way, he would go there, and then they would kill him!"

"So the mastermind and culprit are one and the same?"

"It seems most likely in this case."

"Also, it's very likely they knew about Kaede, Shuichi, and Kokichi's trap this whole time."

"They... knew about our trap?"

"Yeah, that's probably how they figured a way so the cameras don't take a picture of them."

Everyone starts to lose hope, thinking that it's an unsolvable mystery, until Ouma speaks up.

"You want the **cold, hard truth,** right?" he asks Kaede. She doesn't respond. "Then here it is- the cold, hard truth! I already know who the culprit is!"

"Whaaaaat?" Monokuma butts in. "If you do, that would make it the fastest class trial to date!"

"How fast was the previous record?" asks Monotaro.

"Really fast," replies Monosuke.

"Anyway, who the hell is the culprit?!" Miu asks Ouma.

"Okay I'll tell you guys," Ouma says. "It's... you!" He points at Miu.

"Moi?!" Miu shrieks in surprise.

"And I have two pieces of evidence to prove it!"

_Two? One would be that she made the cameras... but the other one...?_

"So, we all agree that Miu made the cameras. Riiiiiight?"

"Yeah..."

"Obviously, the person who made the cameras knew about the blind spots. So she did that, never told Shuichi and I, and snuck in to kill Rantaro!"

"B-"

"I'm not done yet. I have more evidence to back this up."

"You do?"

"Of course I do! I'm an evil supreme leader after all."

"That doesn't mean anything."

"Anyway, whenever Kaede and Shuichi were telling Kaito and Tenko to go in the library with them, because the mastermind was there, I just went in. Y'know, cuz those two are slowpokes."

"You what?"

"Of course, getting more witnesses _is_ important, but if all of them could've came a little earlier, they would've seen the culprit too," Ouma says looking at me and Kaede.

"Wait... so you saw the culprit?!" Tsumugi asks in shock.

"Yep!" Ouma says with a smile of delight.

"And you saw Miu?"

"Nishishi... not necessarily."

"Then why are you fuckin' blaming me as the culprit?!" Miu asks in anger.

"Nishishi... let me explain. So, I only saw the **silhouette** of the culprit. And the key points I could make out were that they had **long hair** and a **skirt on**."

"Kokichi, why didn't you tell us this earlier?" I ask coldly. He looks at me, still with his playful smile on his face. "We asked if you saw anything suspicious, and you said no."

"Saihara-chan... I didn't say no," Ouma laughs. "I said I'll reveal it at the class trial, right?"

_"..."_

"Anyway, **long hair** and a **skirt**. I don't think there's any boys here wearing skirts, so we can assume that the culprit is a girl, riiiiight?"

"I guess so..."

"Also, there's four people that match the description. Tenko, Maki, Miu, and Tsumugi."

"What?! Being called a culprit by such a degenerate! How rude!" Tenko exclaims in horror.

"Out of those four, **Miu** and **Tsumugi** remain the most suspicious. Tenko can't possibly be the culprit, because she was outside with Kaede and Saihara whenever I went inside the library. Maki probably couldn't either, since she was in the Game Room and has an alibi." Man, when Ouma's serious, he's _serious_. Almost like a detective. Even though I'm the Ultimate Detective. And that kind of contradicts his personality, considering the fact that he lies a lot and acts very suspiciously.

"Huh? Why do you suspect I'm the culprit?" Tsumugi asks innocently.

"You went to the bathroom when we were in the dining hall, remember?" Korekiyo notes.

"Oh, right..."

"She probably **disguised herself as someone**! She's the Ultimate Cosplayer, right?"

"No, that's wrong!" Kaede says. Is that her new catchphrase or something?

"Huh?"

"Tsumugi couldn't have cosplayed as someone else and killed Rantaro. She gets **cospox** whenever she cosplays as a real person. She showed me herself."

"Really?"

"Hm, so then Tsumugi can't be the culprit then..."

"Wait!" Ouma says. "She didn't _have_ to cosplay as someone, did she?"

"But then, how'd she pass by the dining hall without anyone noticing?" Kaede argues.

"Oh, please. If I could only see a silhouette of her in the library, I doubt anyone in the dining hall would see her. And if they did, she'd probably have an excuse, like "oh, I need to get my Monopad,' or 'oh, Kaito's having a strategy meeting and I was going to check it out,'" Ouma explains.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. Though, it's just as likely that Miu is the culprit."

"Why do y'all keep blaming me?" Miu yells.

"Miu..." I say, "You're just a suspect. No one's blaming you."

"Yeah, right," Miu agrees sarcastically. "Kokichi sure is!"

"He... He gave us useful info, and that's very helpful for finding out the culprit," I argue.

"Well then..." Korekiyo says. "If she really did put a blind spot on the cameras, tell us any... changes you made to them."

"Ch-Changes?" Miu stammers. "Well, there was a 30-second interval. If one camera took a picture, then it wouldn't be able to take another picture for 30 seconds."

"Why didn't you tell us that, Miu?" Kaede asks.

"I did tell Shuichi and Kokichi! Why the hell wouldn't I?"

"Yeah, she did," Ouma agrees. "And I told you to tell Kaede, right?"

Suddenly, I feel the pressure of everyone's stares on me. "Ah, um. Yeah, you did."

"Why didn't you tell me then, Shuichi?" Kaede says while looking at me.

"Ah, um... I guess I forgot." _Why didn't I tell her? I would usually have a reason for that._

"Hey, I bet Shuichi's the culprit!"

"Yeah! He's a degenerate male after all!"

"That makes sense. He used Miu's changes to the camera to kill Rantaro!"

"Wasn't Shuichi good friends with Rantaro?"

"That makes it even more likely. He gained all that trust... just to kill him."

"Yeah! And there's **no witness or anything like that** , so Shuichi got away with it!"

"No, that's wrong!" Kaede exclaims. "Remember what Kokichi said? The culprit had long hair and a skirt. That doesn't resemble Shuichi at all!"

"Haven't you jerks considered the fact that Kokichi's probably _lying?_ " Miu challenged.

Suddenly, everything stops. And everyone looks at Ouma.

"Is that true?"

"Were you really lying?" All of a sudden, everyone turns on Kokichi.

"Atua says he's lying!"

"You filthy degenerate male!"

"Nyeeeh... for a second, I really thought that Miu or Tsumugi was the culprit. What a pain that it was a lie..."

"G-Guys!" I stammer, reaching out my hand to stop everyone's arguing. "He might not be lying. Just because Miu acknowledged the fact doesn't mean it's... it doesn't mean it's true."

"Nishishi... trying to defend me, huh?" Ouma says with a smile that looked like a smirk. He seemed happy for no reason whatsoever. "You shouldn't do that, especially for a guy like you, Mr. Ultimate Detective."

"A... guy like me?" I repeat, struggling to see through his words.

"Truth, truth, truth. That's all detectives are about. But why? Lying makes things more exciting, which is great to put in a killing game. Nishishi... Don't you agree too, Monokuma?" Kokichi says while grinning.

"Agree? Definitely! This guy's pretty smart, y'know. You should trust him," Monokuma says, pointing his thumb at Ouma.

"He's a liar," Himiko says to Monokuma. "Why should we want to trust him?"

No one responds, so I finally ask, "So... was that a lie?"

"I don't know. You're a detective, right? So why don't you solve that little mystery for yourself?" He smirks again, crossing his arms while doing so.

"..." I look down at my podium, thinking about whether it was a lie or not. _I'm usually able to see through his lies, but for some reason, I can't get a read on him for this one. But logically, since he went in the library before us, he should've-_

"Guys. It was obviously a lie!" Miu says. "Kokichi's even indirectly said so himself... Which means... the culprit isn't me or Tsumugi! In fact... I think the culprit is Shuichi!"

_What...?_

"Shuichi had the receiver, right?" Miu proclaims.

"But me, Ouma, and Kaede were **together the whole time**!" I argue.

"No, that's wrong!" Ouma argues. _What? He's saying that line now?_ "Remember, me and you went to the basement together?"

"Ah, right..." I mutter. I can't believe I was so stupid.

"Why does that matter? He intentionally didn't tell Kaede about the camera intervals!"

"Yes, I was wondering about that too..."

"But Shuichi had an alibi!"

"Not the whole time..."

"But I don't know if Atua agrees. Cuz right now, it's His naptime."

"No way! Shuichi can't possibly be the culprit!"

"Guys, I had the receiver, not Shuichi!" Kaede says. She's lying to protect me...? Then she looks to me for a response.

"Yes, she's right," I agree.

"Kaede's lying. I can tell," Ouma says.

"How do you know?"

"I'm a liar too, y'know? A liar can easily spot another liar, right? Also... since I was with them, I knew- Ow!" Kaede had walked over behind Himiko and kicked Ouma's leg. No one was really listening, though, so I don't think anyone else noticed that part but me. They had all assumed Ouma was just telling another lie.

Everyone continues to argue. I stay silent though, and so does Miu. About half of everyone thinks I'm the culprit, and the other half is defending me, claiming I'm innocent.

"This is quite troublesome. It seems as if our opinions are in opposite ends," Kirumi remarks.

"How we supposed to decide?" Gonta wonders. "We're split right down middle-"

"H-H-H-H-Hold on!!!!!" Monokuma cuts in. "Split? Did you just say split? You did! I heard it! I heard it with my belly button microphone!"

"Wait, so... Your ears don't do anything?"

"The Ultimate Academy is proud to present its very own **morphenomenal trial grounds**!" Monokuma exclaims with one of his hands pumped into the air.

"...Morphenomenal trial grounds?" Maki repeats.

"The trial grounds are gonna morph?!Seriously?! I toooooootally wanna see that!!!" Ouma exclaims happily.

Suddenly, Monokuma gets out a key and it's it in a slot in front of him. When he turns it, all our podiums start to light up, and the podiums (with us right behind it) start to... float? _Is that even possible?_ They podiums start to separate until half are on one side, and half are on the other.

Ouma, Miu, Korekiyo, Maki, Tenko, Himiko, and Ryoma all thought I was the culprit.

Me, Gonta, Kirumi, Angie, Tsumugi, Kiibo, Kaito, and Kaede all agreed I wasn't the culprit.

Debate Scrum  ** Start! **

"You hid what you knew about the camera intervals, Shuichi," Korekiyo states.

"But Miu silent about intervals too..." Gonta remarks while glancing at Miu across from him.

"Unlike Shuichi, I actually have an airtight alibi!" Miu argues.

"Kaede and Kokichi backed up Shuichi's alibi, didn't they?" Kaito responds.

"Shuichi, Kaede, and Kokichi weren't together the whole time, were they?" Maki notes.

"Both of them were together when the receiver went off," Kirumi replies.

"If Shuichi had the receiver, it could've been disguised," Ryoma claims.

"Kaede is the one who actually had the receiver!" Kiibo exclaims.

"But that's Kaede's lie, isn't it?" Ouma chides.

"We'll know whether or not it's a lie when we talk this through!" Kaede says.

_Break!_

Suddenly all the trial grounds float back to normal. The Scrum Debate is over.

"Everyone, you have to believe me! Shuichi is not the culprit! If you all vote for him, then we're all... going to be executed. And the real culprit, probably the mastermind, is going to live! I definitely won't let that happen, even if it costs me my life!" Kaede exclaimed, sounding oddly desperate.

"Kaede..." I mutter.

"Yeah, it's just like Kaede said! Shuichi ain't the culprit!" Kaito agrees.

"Gonta believe in Shuichi too! Gentlemen always believe in friends!"

"Well then, if Shuichi's not the culprit, who is it?" Ryoma says, getting back to the point.

"We've already cleared out all paths of discussion..." Korekiyo says.

"Not true. Just because Miu isn't the culprit, and Shuichi isn't the culprit, there's still one more person. I'm not letting them get away _that_ easily, right?"

"You're just jumping to conclusions like usual..." Korekiyo says.

"And anyway, that hooligan was lying about seeing the culprit, so we shouldn't trust him!" Miu suggests.

"Nishishi... Don't worry. Like I said, I'm an evil supreme leader. People like me aren't dumb enough to not have evidence."

"Then... who do you suspect?" I ask.

"Well, we still can't let little innocent Tsumugi get away with murder, right?"

"Huuuuh? How's Tsumugi the culprit?"

"Nyeh... didn't we already go over this already? It's such a pain repeating it again...."

"We already went over the idea of her cosplaying, and that it's not possible due to the cospox," Kaede confirms. "So obviously, there's **no other way she's the culprit**."

"No, that's wrong!" I found myself saying the words as soon as I found the contradiction in Kaede's statement. "Remember what Ouma said? She didn't necessarily need to cosplay as someone else."

"It is kind of odd, considering she also went to the bathroom minutes before the body discover announcement."

"Tsumugi wasn't at the bathroom for very long though," Korekiyo says. "How would she get the murder weapon without us noticing?"

"She could've grabbed a knife from the kitchen and quickly left!" Kaito says.

"That wasn't even the murder weapon, you idiot!" Maki argues.

"I-I meant shot put ball!" Kaito stammered.

"Gonta think maybe she find weapon in library?" Gonta asks.

"No..." Kaede mutters. "There were nothing of the sort whenever I looked."

"Maybe she went to the warehouse and got them! I mean, that's where the shot put balls originally were, right?"

"No... I feel that would take too long, considering how far away the warehouse is from the dining hall. Tsumugi was only gone for about five minutes," Korekiyo explains.

I look to Tsumugi. She's looks a bit nervous, but not nervous enough to be the culprit. Maybe she's just a really good faker? I mean, she _is_ a cosplayer, after all.

"Huh... then I guess she can't be the culprit," Ouma says. "Well, at least that made this game exciting!"

"Exciting? Game? What the hell is wrong with you?" Kaito asks, looking at Kokichi with wide eyes.

"So... if it's not Tsumugi, who's the culprit?" Ryoma asks, trying to get everyone back on topic.

"That's what we're gonna find out," Kaede says. "After all, this is a class trial. If we work together, we will surely uncover the culprit _and_ the mastermind! We just need to have hope!"

Inspired by Kaede's words, everyone looks at each other, determination in their eyes. It was hard to believe that one of these other 14 people had murdered Rantaro. Everyone wanted to know the truth. But what if the truth... was simply just looked at as another lie?

 

 


	12. Let's Argue About Useless Knowledge! Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even though Kokichi knows the true culprit, the other students don't believe him.

**Ouma's POV:**  
No one wants to listen to me.

No one ever wants to listen to me. Why did I even try to give further evidence? I knew it was a mistake from the start. So why did I do it? No one wants to believe the fact that I saw the true culprit!

"So then, if Shuichi is not the culprit, and Tsumugi is not the culprit, and Miu is not the culprit, then who is?" Korekiyo asks.

"Hey, wasn't Gonta in the A/V room the whole time?" Maki points out.

"I bet he's the culprit!"

"No! Gonta not culprit!"

"Yeah, he's too much of a gentleman to do such a horrendous thing!"

"That's true, but think about it. The A/V room is right across the rear door from the library, right? He could've opened that door somehow, and thrown the shot put ball!"

People continue to argue over whether Gonta is the culprit or not. Honestly, I don't think he is, because he's way too nice. The only way is if someone manipulated him into doing it, but that wouldn't make much sense, considering he was in the A/V room alone. Eventually, everyone comes to a conclusion.

"Gonta can't be the culprit, because of the dust on the door! That means it hasn't been pried open, and there's no other way his arm would fit!"

"Oh.. yeah..."

"Atua agrees too!"

"Thank you Kaede! Gonta not culprit!"

"There's been so many suspects, but none of them are the culprit," Maki confirms.

"Yeah... why couldn't the culprit have it easy on us, and just not have a class trial?" Kaito mutters.

"...I guess they wanted to do the extra work."

"..." I notice Saihara's been quiet the entire time. I mean, he's already quiet in general, but I don't think he's said anything at all. He's looking down at his podium, his nails digging into it. Isn't he the detective? Isn't he supposed to figure out the answer, and not Kaede?

"We've already exhausted all possible avenues of discussion," Korekiyo says.

"No way. There had to be something else we can discuss. We just gotta think," Kaede says with optimism. She has a lot of hope in her voice. "Right, Shuichi?" _Huh?_

"Huh?" Exactly. Saihara looks up from his podium.

"Shuichi... even though you're not the culprit, you've been quiet for a while... It's because you've realized something, huh? You're scared to reveal the truth," Kaede says.

"Ah-!" Saihara exclaims. Kaede must have been right then.

"...I thought so. Shuichi... Answer me this- what **kind of truth** did you realize? Don't be scared to say it- not just for me, but for everyone else." I still don't know what they're talking about and I don't intend to find out. Man, standing at these podiums for an hour makes people tired. I stretch my arms and yawn as I continue to listen.

Finally, he answers. "The picture."

"Picture?"

"The picture from the camera aimed at the hidden door, just before the murder. I always thought it was suspicious... the way he was acting..."

"Hm? What's suspicious?"

Saihara continues explaining. "See, it looks like Rantaro's trying to **remove the camera**... Which means he noticed the camera we set up."

"That's true... but when did he notice that?" Tenko asks.

"I believe it was when our camera took its first picture. The one showing Rantaro moving the hidden bookcase. There has to be a reason that he noticed the camera, though..." Saihara trails off. God, people are stupid! It's because of the flash, right?

"So.. we need to find that reason," Kirumi says.

"You're confusin' everyone! Except me, of course! Just get to the fuckin' point!" Miu yells.

"I've been contemplating over what it could be. Why he noticed the camera..."

"I got it!" Kaede exclaims. "It's because of the flash, right?"

"Yes... when the camera took the hidden door picture...that's when he noticed."

"But how do you know the flash went off?" Tenko wonders.

Saihara shows everyone the pictures again, and how the brightness was a lot different. "Also, recall that the rear door camera took a picture. The flash couldn't have been on then, because Rantaro never noticed it. See, compare the brightness from the photo of Rantaro walking in, to Rantaro opening the hidden door."

"Whoa! The brightness is totally different!"

"Which means... The flash setting was only on for the hidden door camera."

"What was the purpose of that?" Kirumi asks. "Especially if it was supposed to be hidden..."

"A mistake, maybe?"

"It wasn't a mistake. There was clearly an objective here. That camera was placed for another reason."

"Another reason, huh?" Kaede repeats. "I think it was because... the flash was used to lure whoever moved the bookcase to the camera. So when the flash went off, they'd notice the camera right away. And that's exactly what happened. But the culprit didn't expect the camera to take another picture when he was about to take the camera off."

"Is... something wrong? You've been acting... kinda strange," Kaito remarks, looking at Kaede.

"Strange?"

"Your last few remarks carry... more conviction then before," Korekiyo remarks.

"Do you know who the culprit is?"

"..."Kaede looks up and to her left, like she knows something we don't. "Yup, I know. I've known for a long time. Because there was only one person able to set the flash on the camera." _Wait, that could only mean..._

"So who's the culprit, then?"

"The culprit is..." Kaede starts, but then Shuichi finishes her sentence.

"The culprit is Kaede."

"Huh?"

"Kaede... did it?"

"W-Wait, that's not possible! Right, Kaede?" Tenko asks, looking to Kaede for an answer. But Kaede doesn't respond.

"K-Kaede?"

Tsumugi's eyes widen. "Wait, did she really-"

"Pft-ahahahahah! Just kidding!" Kaede says, bursting out in laughter. But anyone, not just me, could tell that was obviously a lie.

"'Just kidding?'" Ryoma repeats, narrowing his eyes.

"Huh? Did you guys really think I'm the culprit?" Kaede asks. "Psh- c'mon guys, like I could!" Her sudden burst of humor, that's not her usual resort. She must be the culprit. That's the only answer.

"..." Even Saihara is skeptical about it. Using laughter to get rid of her nervousness- that's what Kaede's doing.

"When Rantaro was murdered, I was in the classroom with Shuichi and Kokichi, remember? When we went to the library, that was the first time I saw his body. I didn't even have a chance to meet up with him. So there's no way I'm the culprit!"

"Y-Yes... no way Kaede could be culprit..." Gonta says happily, but even I could tell he was a little nervous as he scratched the back of his neck.

"Geez, do you think my hands are even strong enough to throw that shot? They're only strong enough to play piano!"

"Then, accusing you of being the culprit is-"

"Yup, it's wrong. Shuichi's just joking around. He wanted to lighten up the mood." _Yeah, right._ Saihara isn't that kind of person to joke around that easily. If it was me, it'd make sense. But it isn't. "Right, Shuichi? There's no way I could've killed Rantaro with that shot." She looks to Saihara for an answer.

"No, I'm not joking around. Kaede definitely killed Rantaro," Saihara says.

"What the hell did you just say?!"

"It seems Shuichi is being serious after all."

"Of course I am," Saihara says.

"Then tell me. How did I kill Rantaro?" Kaede asks. "I have an alibi. When Rantaro was killed, I was in the classroom, keeping watch with Shuichi and Kokichi."

"Kaede never saw Rantaro... so how she kill him?!"

"It's important to establish where the culprit used the shot. We know **that it was in the library**."

"That's wrong!" Saihara cries out. "Kaede didn't used the shot put ball at the scene of the crime, but in the first floor classroom, where me and Ouma were keeping watch!"

"Hold up. How could she have hit Rantaro with a shot from a different floor?" Ryoma asks.

"She rolled it. She rolled it from the first floor classroom so it could hit ," Saihara claims.

"I am skeptical she could perform such a feat of accuracy..." Kiibo wonders.

"So it was a magic shot put ball? Nyeh. That's not possible."

"It is possible. If you do it at the right spot in the classroom, it will eventually reach the library." _The right spot... oh! I know!_

"Oh, you mean that **vent**? Doesn't it lead to the library or something?" I say, hoping to contribute to the conversation.

"Kokichi's lying. I already know it," Himiko mumbles from next to me.

"You little-" God, why does everyone always think I'm lying?! All these people are stupid. I'm the only one who actually gave important info and they just... reject it!

"Ouma's not lying, Himiko. That's exactly where Kaede rolled the shot put ball. And... guys, you shouldn't accuse Ouma for lying so much. Remember, he was the one who gave so much useful evidence." He must have noticed me biting my lip in anger, because he wouldn't have mentioned anything about that otherwise.

"Anyway... that's the air duct that connects the two, right?" Maki asks.

"Yes. The shot is rolled into the vent, passes through the air duct, and out onto the library bookcase," Saihara explains.

"But how could she have hit Rantaro from all the way over there?!" Tenko wonders. "The vent is way too far from where he was!"

"Maybe it was a coincidence?"

"What kinda coincidence is that?"

"Looks like we'll find out."

"The main shot that fell from the vent... How did it strike Rantaro's head?"

"The shot that fell on his head... it's **like it rolled on its own**..."

"I agree! Ryoma is right. I rolled on it's own along the bookcase," Saihara says in consent.

"It rolled... along the bookcase?"

"I did say that... but would the shot have rolled that conveniently?" Ryoma questions.

"It has nothing to do with convenience. The shot rolled exactly how the culprit wanted," Saihara answers. "It's because of the **stacked books on top of the bookcase**. It directed the course of the ball."

"The shot's path was directed by books? How does that even work?" Tsumugi asks.

"It'll be better to explain with a floor plan..." Saihara mutters. "Oh, ah... Miu, you have a picture of the floor plan of the library, right?"

"Hmph, yeah. But now you owe me one," Miu replies. "Voila! Feast your eyes on these babies!"

"It's just as I thought..." Saihara mutters.

"Hm? What is?"

Saihara points to a certain area on the photo.

"See, the books are stacked like stairs from the air vent to the place where we found Rantaro's body," Saihara explains.

"Oh! Shuichi is right!"

"Indeed, they are stacked like stairs. I did not notice when I looked up from the floor."

"I see, I see... The shot rolled on top of these books, eh?"

"Yes. I'm sure of it. Kaede, you set that up on purpose, didn't you? You set up the books and made sure the vent was open." I've never seen Saihara so... assertive like this. Usually he second-guesses himself, and is always doubtful of his decisions. But now... I can't help but respect that. Even though he's having to rat out his friend... he's not even thinking about doubt. He's going to see her even get... executed, but Saihara's still finding the truth.

"Impressive... you have a really good memory, Shuichi," Kaede replies. She's... testing him, isn't she? Seeing if he can figure out how exactly she was the culprit.

"She rolled the shot put ball into the vent, which went into the air duct, where it came out from the vent in the library. Then it rolled along the line of stacked books, and hit Rantaro! That's also why she lured him by turning the flash on the camera, so he would see it and go over to turn it off," Saihara explains.

"A setup that complicated is almost like a Rube Goldberg machine," Tsumugi notes.

"And you're saying Kaede planned this all out?"

"Wait!" Kaito says, extending his hand as if to stop us. "Even with a Rube-whatever setup, when did Kaede roll the ball down the duct?"

"That's right! Wasn't Shuichi and Kokichi with Kaede in the classroom?!" Tenko points out.

"It was when Kokichi and I left the classroom," Saihara says. "We had both ran to find Rantaro. But Kaede had stayed in the room a bit longer. That must've been when she rolled the ball into the air duct."

"..."

"I'm right, aren't I?"

"Of course the Ultimate Detective would remember all that," Kaede says with a smile.

"Your words and that smile... is that your admission of guilt?" Korekiyo wonders.

"D-Don't jump to conclusions just yet! I've still gotta lot of questions!" Kaito exclaims.

"Nishishi... that's weeeeeeeird. Why do you sound so desperate?" I laugh.

"It's not weird! It's just... I can't believe someone like Kaede would be the culprit!" Kaito says.

"Y-Yeah! Gonta not believe it either!"

"H-Huh?" Kaede asks. She must've not been expecting this many people to be on her side.

"Don't worry Kaede. I'll clear out your name!" Kaito promises.

_But... Saihara's explanation isn't really connected to what I saw. That person... with the long hair and skirt... who was that then? Miu... or Tsumugi?_

Kaito tries to points out that the library was completely quiet, and Rantaro would hear the shot rolling, but Saihara corrects him on that.

"When Rantaro was in the library, the killing game promotional video was being broadcast on all the monitors. So, he couldn't have heard the shot put ball rolling in the vents."

"Uhh... that creepy music to try to get someone to start killing?"

"That makes sense."

"Wh-!" Kaito says, in shock that his evidence was false. He seems like he can't accept the fact that Kaede is really the culprit.

"Kaito, are you done now?" I ask playfully.

"D-Damn it... So it's true then?! Kaede.... really is the culprit?!"

"So that means most of Kaede's sins were commuted right before Shuichi and Kokichi's eyes."

"That's correct. We were with her in the classroom... and when she left the vent open... and when she organized the books."

"..." Kaede's smile falters back to a frown.

"And it was the same when you took the murder weapon, isn't it? When we were in the warehouse getting the cameras for Miu."

"So you were hiding it the entire time!" Tenko asks in shock.

"But where would she have even hidden it?" Tsumugi asks. Man, people are dumb! Can they not see the backpack that Kaede always has? It's because of the stupid people like Tenko and Tsumugi and Kaito that make this class trial so long!

"...Kaede's backpack. She was carrying it in there. Despite its weight, it would've been easy to carry in a backpack."

"..." Kaede looks nervously at the ground.

"Then that means... all of this happened in front of Shuichi and Kokichi."

"But we should not blame them for that. None of the actions were warranted suspicion of the time, so they might not have noticed."

"Then that clears it all up then... every part of the crime Kaede plotted."

"No way... it's gotta be mistake, right?"

"But if all of that is true, then that's pretty unfortunate..." I say sadly. "But it's Kaede, y'know? She kept preaching about working together... and then she goes and kills in cold blood!"

"No, something still isn't right," Saihara says.

"Hm? What isn't right?" I say quickly, eager to get the trial done with.

"Kaede... wouldn't do something like that."

"You mean she's not the type? But you were the one who said she did it, didn't you?" Tsumugi notes.

"But... I believe in you, Kaede! You wouldn't do something like that!" Saihara claims.

"You still believe in me?" Kaede says quietly. "Why, Shuichi? Why do you still believe in me? Tell me why!" she exclaims, her words tinged with hurt and pain.

"Because it's just not in you!"

"I'm the culprit! There's no mistaking it!Why can't you accept that?!"

After a bunch of argument between the two, Shuichi finally gets to an answer. "You...You were really trying to kill the mastermind, weren't you?"

"Kill... the mastermind?"

"Kaede wasn't targeting Rantaro. She was targeting the mastermind," Saihara explains. "She was trying to end the killing game. She was trying to save us all."

"..." Kaede looks sick to her stomach with guilt now.

"And it's all my fault. She trusted my detective skills... I told her the mastermind might be there." Tears start to pour down his face. "It's all my fault. She trusted me, and I screwed it up!"

That's when I realize he isn't mentioning me at all. Even though it's partially my fault too.

"Please, don't say that. It's not your fault. It'll be harder on me..." Kaede mutters, her eyes and face getting wet with tears. "I want you to end this. End the killing game. That's... my final wish."

"...I understand. I'll reveal everything. The truth and the lies!" Saihara says with conviction.

Once again, he explains the entire thing Kaede did as a type of closing argument, starting from when, me, him, and Kaede had teamed up to put the cameras in the library. He explains it all in detail, and he reveals who said culprit is at the end: none other than Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist.

Everyone comforts Kaede. I honestly can't believe she ended up being the culprit. And Saihara was the one who had to call her out.

"You guys are so nice... Even though I betrayed you all," Kaede says. I notice something different in her voice. It lost that sense of hope, that sense of "we're gonna work together!"

"No, that's not true, Kaede! You were trying to save us a-"

"Nice job, Shuichi!"

"Huh?"

"You were so reliable back there. But you still have a long way to go. You need to be more assertive," Kaede says.

"Stop, stop, stop! At least save it for the end of the trial! Sheesh!" Monokuma says.

"The debate is all finished, so that means it's **Voting Time**!" Monotaro announces.

"Alright, you bastards! Press the button in front of you to cast your vote!" Monophanie orders.

"At last! The heart-racing excitement as the blackened and the spotless face off... It's Voting Time!" Monokuma yells with enthusiasm.

Everyone looks at their podiums where a voting-like platform is now there. I vote for Kaede, because I can't really think of who else it could be.

After everyone votes, a huge screen appears, where it shows everyone's votes. It was unanimous. Kaede was the culprit. "Who will be chosen as the blackened? Will you make the right choice, or the dreadfully wrong one?" Monokuma asks.

The verdict comes in, and since the vote was unanimous, it became quite obvious that the culprit was Kaede. "Well, it goes without saying, but... You guys were right! The culprit is none other then Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist!"

After that, Monokuma allows us to talk a little before Kaede receives her... punishment.

"I really thought we would be able to end the killing game. I believed it too..." Kaede sniffs as tears pour.

"Oh, Kaede... it never dawned on you? As soon as that thought entered your head, Monokuma had you right where he wanted. Because what mattered most to Monokuma is that the killing game started. Regardless of your reasons, the moment you felt that urge to kill, you had already lost. You agreed to be part of this killing game when you let murder fill your heart," I explain to Kaede.

"W-Wait. To put it like that..." Tsumugi trails off.

"Well, he isn't wrong. Kaede's the reason this killing game even started," Miu scoffs.

"But without Kaede, we would've been all dead!" Tenko exclaims.

"Kaede save everyone. We no can blame her," Gonta says. As if I didn't already know that... I wanted to help too! But everyone... they all just think I'm lying!

"I know that! You don't need to remind me!" I say, bursting out. Before I knew it, tears were already forming in my eyes. "That's why I'm so... pissed off! Pissed off at myself for being so... so useless!"

"Ouma, that's enough. I can see through your act," Saihara says.

"Whoops. That obvious, huh?" I say, my regular smile returning. I still don't know how he can see through me like that. No one else ever seems to point that out.

"And I didn't even kill the mastermind. I killed one of our dear friends, instead," Kaede says.

We all continue talking, where Kaede reveals she would've confessed that she did it in the investigation, but the First Blood Perk prevented her, because she didn't want to escape alone. Everyone agrees there must've been no mastermind from the beginning, even Saihara. But then... who was that I saw, the person in the skirt and long hair? It had to be one of us, right? And not Kaede, her hair only goes a bit past her shoulders, though she does have a skirt. Also, Shuichi said she rolled the shot down the air vent, so who threw the ball at Rantaro?

"Alright, alright, everyone! That's it!" Monokuma says, flailing his arms around to stop all the talking.

"H-Huh?!"

"Wh-What do you mean...? What do you mean, that's it...?"

"Father, are you getting bored?" Monotaro asks.

"You know how Pops is. He can't stand any of this tear jerking schlock."

"Teeheehee... I see nothing gets past my adorable little cubs. But we can't let this boring display grind the action to a halt, so... time to make things interesting!" Monokuma announces with glee.

"Make things... interesting?"

"It's what you've all been waiting for... **Punishment Time**!" Monokuma exclaims.

Kaito, Gonta, and Tenko all go in front of the Exisals, ready to fight. But then Kaede cuts in.

"Everyone, stop! I've already prepared myself for this!" she cries out. Her voice growing softer, she continues. "I'm entrusting this wish to every one of you. End this killing game, and get the hell out of here!"

"I'll do that to the best of my ability."

"K-Kaede...!"

"Well, you definitely weren't boring," I tell her. _I had so many things to tell her... and I told her... that?!_

"Alright! Time to get things going! I have a very special punishment for Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist!" Monokuma says.

"Guys... you can't lose! You can't lose to this killing game!"

"Let's give it everything we got! It's... PUNISHMENT TIIIIME!"

"I believe in you guys! So please, believe in yourself! Okay? That's... a promise."

Those were her last words as she was dragged off to her execution.


	13. Two Motives This Time?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi reluctantly goes to breakfast and the students learn about the new motive(s), and Shuichi and Kaito break the fourth wall thanks to Kokichi.

**Saihara's POV:**   
_Ding dong!_

_Ding dong ding dong ding dong ding dong!_

"Ah!" My eyes open to meet the bright light of my room. "Wh-Who is it? Wait, I'm coming, I'm coming!" With the doorbell hurrying me along, I went to open the door.

_Click!_

Kaito barges into my room. "Hey, what are you doing? It's already morning!"

"K-Kaito? Ah... do you... need something?" I ask.

"Well, yeah! Food! I was gonna eat wth everyone else in the dining hall, but you weren't there... That's why I came o get you."

"Huh? But... I don't recall making any plans."

"You should be at the dining hall anyway. I mean, where else are you gonna eat breastfast?" Kaito asks me.

"Ah, I don't usually eat breakfast, so..."

"A-Are you serious? If you don't have breakfast, what do you eat in the morning?!" Kaito exclaims.

"Um...?"

"Ah, whatever! Let's get going! The others are waiting!"

"W-Wait! I'm not ready, I need my- Actually, nothing." I don't need **that** anymore. "Okay, let's go."

Me and Kaito head to the dining hall, where I brace myself for the stares I'll get. Everyone abruptly stops talking whenever I walk in with Kaito.

"H...Hi, Shuichi..."

"O-Oh, Shuichi..."

Everyone seems nervous to talk to me for some reason. Except, of course...

"You finally got rid of that emo hat! Is this cuz Kaede died or whatever?" Ouma laughs. A lurch forms in my stomach when he says her name. I still can't believe it... she murdered someone, and then got executed...

I try not to think about it as I look back up at everyone. Just because Kaede is gone, doesn't mean that any of these people are. "Hey, and you've got a little thingie on your head like her too! What are you, some kind of copycat?" Ouma continues, pointing to my ahoge.

"Ew! What a weirdo! You have an antenna!" Miu says in disgust.

"You do realize you have a double-antenna like structure atop your head too, right?" Kiibo points out.

"Wh-What?!"

"It's not called an antenna..." I mutter. "It's called an ahoge."

"How the hell did that go under your hat?"

"Ah... I'd rather you not ask any more questions about it..." I say as I laugh nervously.

I go sit at the dining hall table where Kirumi has already prepared food for everyone. Kaito sits on my left, and, as it turns out, Ouma on my right. I had sat next to where his food was, so that was his spot.

I reach for my chopsticks, until I hear the sound.

_Boing!_

It wasn't a scary sound. Quite the opposite, actually. I didn't realize where it was coming from, but when I heard it the second time, that's when I realized.

_Boing!_

I turn around in a panic. Ouma's hand was near my head, and everyone's eyes were on us. "Wh-What do you think you're doing?" I exclaim, pulling away from him in an instant.

"...It was preeeeetty obvious. I gotta say, you're kinda dumb if you didn't know," Ouma answers. No way, was he really-!

"He was boinging your ahoge, Shuichi," Maki says coldly.

"Stop that, you male! Learn some manners, why don't you?!" Tenko exclaims at Ouma. He doesn't respond.

"Oh... ahahahah..." I start to nervously laugh. This is exactly why I didn't want to go to the dining hall. I was afraid everyone would be feeling more playful then usual,, especially Ouma, and do something like this. Eventually he stops, but instead asks me ridiculous questions about it.

"Do you use that as an antenna to connect with other people that have antennas?! Ooh! Maybe you read their minds?"

"No..." I immediately thought of Kaede, though.

"Do you stab it in your pillow when you sleep and create a rip?"

"What?! It's not _that_ sharp!" Is it?

"Oh, oh, I know! Did you ever have sword fights with your thingie?"

"For the last time, no. Ah, and it's called an ahoge."

After that, I started to eat. Kirumi's food was amazing! I close my eyes to savor the yumminess as Ouma laughs next to me. "This is why you should eat here more, Saihara."

"Yeah," Kaito agrees. "I mean, she makes the best food! Thanks so much!"

"You're welcome," Kirumi replies with a smile.

"Kirumi, be my mom!" Ouma suddenly requests.

"Gonta want you to be mom too!" Gonta agrees.

"What are you two even doing?" Kiibo asks disapprovingly.

"Oh yeah! I'll show you guys something really neat!" Tenko exclaims. "Look, look! When Himiko eats, she makes the cutest face! Aww, she's like a small animal!"

"Stop it, you're making it hard for me to eat," Himiko replies.

We chatted casually as we began eating the food Kirumi brought out.

"Mm... Gonta love this food!"

"Mmm, it's so delicious, it makes we want to cut off my tongue."

"Mm-hm... the rice balls aren't just ordinary rice balls either! The outside it packed tightly so it won't fall apart, but the inside is nice and soft!" Tenko says. "And cuz the rice wasn't crushed, you can taste every sweet, sticky, grain, even when it's cold!"

_I think that was a little too much description you gave there..._

"Hey, do you have some sort of god tongue or something?" Tsumugi asks Tenko.

"By not crushing the rice, air is able to flow within each individual grain," Kirumi explains. They continue talking about the food while I turn to Ouma and Kaito.

"Hey, Kiibo, why aren't you eating?" Ouma asks. "Oh, yeah! I totally forgot you can't eat! Y'know, cuz you're a robot!"

"..." Kiibo looks at everyone's food with a sad smile.

"Hey now, don't look so down. I'll bring you a broken TV later," Ouma says.

"I don't want that... I'm not a waste receptacle," Kiibo mutters.

"Nyahahhaha! Kiibo and Kokichi seem to be getting along swimmingly," Angie says.

"S... Swimmingly? How can someone get along with another swimmingly?" I ask.

"By swimming!" Angie answers.

"...But they're not swimming..."

We were having a normal conversation... as if nothing had happened. But we all knew it wasn't really normal. It was **forced conversation**. But that's to be expected. The incident just happened yesterday, after all. Everyone's forcing themselves. That's why... This kind of **forced normalcy** is just making us remember what happened.

"Hm? What's the matter, Shuichi?" Kaito asks. "If you're not gonna eat this, then I'll just help myself!"

"Ah, sorry. Hey, I was gonna eat that!" I respond, pulling my food away from Kaito's hands. I pushed those unnecessary thoughts out of my head and shoveled food into my mouth.

"Hey, by the way, are we gonna check out that thing Gonta mentioned?" Ryoma asks.

"Huh? What thing?" I ask.

"He discovered a paper that had the words 'horse a' on it."

"I have no idea what it could possibly mean..." Korekiyo mutters.

"Really? I would think that it's some kind of anthropology thing," Tsumugi says.

"Well, how about it, Shuichi? Let's hear the Ultimate Detective's opinion."

"Ah, um... I don't... know? I don't know either," I reply.

"Well, Gonta glad he found it," Gonta says happily.

"Yeah! Gonta, you were a reeeeal help. I knew I could rely on you from the start!" Ouma says.

"What? Really? Gonta... happy he could help!"

"Yep! You should work for me!"

"Okay!"

"Nishishi... Gonta, you shouldn't be gullible. Acting like that... is what gets you **killed** first." Ouma puts his finger to his lips and smiles. Not the playful smile that I usually see, but one with far more malicious intent.

Suddenly, everyone stops and stares at Ouma. "Was there something wrong with what he said?" Kiibo asks, breaking the silence.

"Th... This is exactly what I hate about degenerates! They're so inconsiderate!" Tenko sighs.

"Kokichi, that no good. Even as joke." Even Gonta can sense the darkness of the mood. He's so sweet and innocent, he wouldn't hurt a fly. I feel a bit bad for him...

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know the K-word had been banned. But that's kind of odd, hm? Especially in a killing game," Ouma says.

"God, how can you act like that, considering what happened yesterday?!"

"This is exactly how Monokuma plays with you guys like fiddles..." Ouma mutters.

"Huh?"

"Oh, sorry. Just talking to myself," Ouma replies.

Suddenly Monokuma appears out of nowhere and joins the conversation- uninvited. "Helloooo! Looks like you guys are having a good time. Let me join in."

"Yeah! They're having a jolly good time ganging up on me!" Ouma says sarcastically.

"Isn't that your fault?"

"Hm? Ganging up?" Monokuma asks. "No bullying! Bullying is not cool! Bullying is the worst! Personally, I think it's the parents' fault. They should do a better job raising their kids!" He continues to rant on about the topic until Ryoma asks him to get to the point.

"Oh, right! I was gonna give you guys a prize for surviving the class trial!" Monokuma hands us some random items. "Also, there are new areas of the school to search! You better go check it out!"

Everyone starts to leave to look around, but Monokuma stops them. "Woah woah woah, there. Who said I was done?"

"What else do you have to say, then?" Maki says.

"Anyway, I have a few more **motives**!"

"Few more? As in, multiple?" I ask. Monokuma nods vigorously.

"The first motive will come in the form of a **motive video** ," Monokuma explains.

"Motive... video?"

"You'll understand when you get them. My sweet little cubs will be passing them out tonight. Anyway! The second motive is **a lot more interesting**." Monokuma grins at us.

"I don't know what that's supposed to mean..." Himiko mutters.

"Don't worry! I'll protect you!" Tenko exclaims.

"Anyway... the second motive is that I **will be pairing you with a certain somebody** and be forced to **sleep with them** for the night. I'll be doing this **tomorrow evening**."

"I knew I shouldn't have listened..." Himiko says.

"Wh-What?"

"Wait... in the school... we're allowed to have s-"

"Puhuhuhu... that part is entirely up to you. Oh, the despair! I... love it!" Monokuma looks at everyone's red faces and sneers in delight..Everyone looks shocked in one way or another, but Korekiyo looked like he was going to explode. I wouldn't think he cared about the matter that much...

"I think the correct word is embarrassment, not de-"

"Don't interrupt me!" Monokuma says, interrupting Kiibo.

"My question is... who's choosing the "certain somebody"? Are we choosing that person ourselves?" Tsumugi asks.

"What?! No! I'm choosing!" Monokuma announced with delight.

"You're... choosing... who we're getting to sleep with?"

"Well, not me necessarily. There's a whole bunch of people who love you guys... they're making the decisions! Also, the gender isn't always the opposite. There will be **at least one guy sleeping with another guy, and at least one girl sleeping with another girl**. Now, shoo! I'm not answering any more questions!" Monokuma disappears, leaving us all in shock.

\---

Later that day, I was hanging out with Kaito. He seems to want to hang out with me a lot all out of the blue. As long as he's not wanting too much, I'm fine with it. He seems like a friendly guy anyway.

"Y'know Monokuma's motive, hm?"

"Oh, that? Ah, right..." I shudder at the thought. Is Monokuma really going to go in for it?

"Remember when we asked who's pairing us up, and he said that there was some people who "enjoyed us" or something?" Kaito recalls.

"Right! I was wondering what he meant. It _did_ seem like he was trying to, ah, hint to something..." I say.

"Hey! I was thinking the same, too!" Kaito exclaims. "Though I was wondering who it was..."

"Duh, Kaito! Shouldn't you know?" I hear a familiar voice say.

"Kokichi? Where'd you come from?" Kaito exclaims, his eyes widening.

"Man, Maki was right. You really are an idiot. I was here the whole time."

"M...Maki???" Kaito asks, surprised that Ouma had mentioned her.

"Yeah. She said you were a bit of a baka."

"Ah, um, guys?" I start, waving my hands to stop the arguing. Eventually the two look at me. "Ouma, you said Kaito was an idiot for not knowing who Monokuma was referring to, like you know yourself."

"Well, of course I do. I'm an supreme leader after all! We're surprised to know those kinds of things," Ouma smiles.

"You're lying, aren't ya? You even lied to Gonta this morning!" Kaito retaliates.

"What...? Of course not! I would never lie!

"Yeah, right," Kaito mutters, crossing his arms.

"Then, Kokichi, what was Monokuma referring to?" I ask. Those two get off-topic so much!

"Oh, that?" Ouma recalls, putting his index finger on his chin. "I mean, it was pretty obvious Monokuma was referring to the **audience** watching this."

"A-Audience?!" Kaito exclaims.

"Weeeeell, there's problem some sort of audience watching this, whether on TV, YouTube, through the cameras..."

I think about what Ouma means. "Well, that does make sense why Monokuma is such a stickler about the rules..."

"Of course it does!" Ouma extends his his arms to look more dramatic. "So... out of all 16 of us, the audience probably has a lot of different "pairs"."

"Hm? You think so?"

"Like... I don't know, Tenko and Himiko. You see how Tenko acts around her. People are bound to want those two to become a couple. So they're probably going to end up in the same room," Ouma explains.

"Mm, I guess that makes sense," Kaito says after a period of hesitation.

"I'm surprised you jumped to that conclusion this early, but it makes perfect sense," I mutter.

"I'm surprised you didn't figure out the answer yourself, Mr. Ultimate Detective," Ouma shoots back, smirking at my face then smiling for no apparent reason. "Hey, maybe we should switch talents. I'll become the Ultimate Detective, and you can be an evil Supreme Leader!"

"..." I can tell he's making a joke, but I'm not sure how he wants me to respond to that. "I like things how they are... so no."

"Aww, you're such a meanie!" Ouma complains. "Well, do what you like." He waves goodbye and then leaves the conversation.

"D...Do you think he's right? That some "audience" is watching this?" Kaito asks me nervously.

"Ah, um, well, it does seem like a good hypothesis, and it explains some things that wouldn't make sense without that conclusion. So he might be right."

"Th-That just seems... horrid. That some people enjoy watching us suffer! I hate them!" Kaito says loudly.

"...Yeah. They really are horrible, aren't they?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the ending lol. I don't really put notes that often, especially on this story since it's already finished and I'm not writing chapters for this. I hope you've been liking it so far though! owo


	14. Sexy Boi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kokichi continues to search for clues to the mastermind, Shuichi along his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the chapter title is weird, just read

**Ouma's POV:**  
Despite the fact that everyone agrees there's no mastermind, there's no mistaking it. There has to be one. Otherwise, who was that I saw at the point of Rantaro's death?

Miu or Tsumugi. One of them. It has to be.

And, now that I recall, Miu has those steampunk like goggles, right? And I would've seen those in the silhouette. But I didn't, so...

It must've been Tsumugi. Somehow, she must've killed Rantaro.

I was always skeptical of Kaede's murder plan. Even if the shot put ball rolled along the books and all that, there's a very good chance it landed next to Rantaro. So how did he get killed?

_That doesn't matter. But I need to see if Tsumugi is the mastermind._

I found Tsumugi near the girl's bathroom. She was about to go inside, but when she saw me, she stopped, which looked a bit suspicious to me. "Oh, hello Kokichi!"

"Hiiiii... I was wondering if I could hang out with you for a while," I say.

"Oh, you want to hang out with plain old me? Okay..."

We talked about cosplay for some time. Most of the time I was going along with what she was saying, not really listening. I'd like to say me and Tsumugi grew closer today, but if she's the mastermind like I think, then I don't think I really want to grow closer to her.

"Hey, Tsumugi?"

"Huh? What is it?"

"It's kind of odd, Kaede's way of killing Rantaro." I try to change the subject.

"A-Ah! D-Don't remind me about that!" Tsumugi says, looking scared.

"Buuuuut, think about it! Chances are, the shot didn't hit him. In fact, I don't think Kaede killed him at all!"

"H-Huh???" Tsumugi looks at me, confused. "But then... if we voted wrong, Monokuma would execute everyone, right?"

"No... I've already got it all figured out," I mutter. "Obviously, there's some sort of audience watching us. They wouldn't want us all to die, and the killing game to end that quickly!"

"A-Audience!" Tsumugi exclaims nervously. "Where- Where'd you get an idea plain like that?"

"Well, it is pretty obvious. Why else would Monokuma be such a stickler for the rules?"

"I-I... I guess so. But... why are you even telling plain old me about this?" Tsumugi asks, looking up at me innocently.

"No reason. You just seem least likely to be the mastermind, that's why," I lie.

"Yeah, there's no way I could have such a horrendous job, plain and simple," Tsumugi says. Of course, she must be lying too. I search her face for clues, but the problem is, she already looks nervous, whether she's lying or not. That was a smart move on her part, making her seem nervous on a regular basis, so she didn't look any different when she lies.

"Buuut... if you _were_ the mastermind, what would you do?" I ask her, trying to pry out more information.

"You still think that there's a mastermind? I thought everyone agreed that there wasn't one."

"I don't think so- I'm positive! And I have evidence too!"

"E-Evidence?"

"Well, y'know, I might be lying. I am a liar after all."

Tsumugi let's out a sigh and doesn't say anything.

"Also, I was wondering something about Rantaro's Monopad." I pull something out of one of my pockets. It's the picture that was taken with the cameras that Shuichi, Kaede and I had set up. "See, it seems like Rantaro was holding onto his Monopad. But there was nothing on it, right?"

"Well, shouldn't it be a regular Monopad?" Tsumugi asks.

"Yeah, I guess I was wrong," I lie. "Could see your Monopad instead?"

"My Monopad? I don't think I have it with me right now," Tsumugi says. "Why don't you use yours?"

"Nishi... I don't have mine either. Well, see you." I got all the info I needed, so Tsumugi heads back to her room, or wherever.

But the girl's bathroom... Tsumugi was going in there, right? But when I was talking, she wasn't swaying back and forth like she actually needed to use it. Is there- Is there something in there? Shit! None of the girls would wanna help me with any of this stuff.

_Wait, no! Mom- I mean Kirumi- would!_

I make a mental note to talk to her about it later, then I head back to my room.

Searching through the drawers, I find an empty notebook in one of them. _Perfect_. I write down some notes to uncover the true mystery of Amani's death.

_\- Kaede didn't murder Rantaro, Tsumugi framed her_  
 _-Tsumugi's the mastermind (at least most likely)_  
 _-When I asked her for her Monopad she didn't have it at all (she said she didn't have it with her at the time but really?)_  
 _\- Tsumugi was about to go to the girl's bathroom (on the first floor) but she stopped when she saw me. And when I was talking to her, she wasn't swaying back and forth like she actually needed to use the bathroom_  
 _\- I need to get Kirumi to look in there to see if there's anything suspicious._  
 _-Rantaro was found with a regular Monopad at the scene of the crime, but note how there was no blood on it._  
 _-In the pictures, he was gripping his Monopad rather tightly, as if he really,_ really _didn't want to lose it._

Nishishi! Now who's the real detective? I close the notebook and lay it on the nightstand near the bed. There's not much to do, and I was starting to get hungry, so I left my room for a snack.

I went into the dining hall. No one else was there, which makes sense. They were probably all hanging out with each other or doing something of their own, since it was still Free Time.

I headed to the kitchen area and opened the fridge. Lo and behold- I found something I never expected- Grape Panta! The wrapper was as colorful as usual, like it came straight from the outside world. My face breaks into a smile as I snatch it before anyone else can take it. I hugged it to my chest and murmured "sexy boi".

"The hell?" I hear a familiar voice from the dining hall. "Who are you calling 'sexy boi'?!" Saihara walks into the kitchen, looking to see who it was.

"N-No one, silly!" I stammer.

"Are you hiding behind my back and doing these kinds of stuff?" he asks. I don't think I've ever seen him this angry. It was just some Panta! "Answer me, Ouma."

"Of course not! Who'd like me enough to that extent? Rantaro was the closest thing I had to a friend other then you, but he went and died!" I say.

"...Well, you aren't wrong. I don't see why everyone hates you so much," Saihara admits, his face of anger disappearing to his usual frown.

"It's really my fault, y'know. I just keep on going with the lies, and that's what gets people. But you..."

"I can see through your lies. Right." Saihara looks at the ground for a moment then back at me. "But who did you say "sexy boi" to? I wouldn't think yourself... but there no one else here."

I can't help but giggle at the thought of calling myself sexy boi. "Haha, no. Let's just say... I really like Grape Panta."

"Grape... Panta?" Saihara raises an eyebrow and glances at the drink in my hand. "I prefer other types of soft drinks, but hey. I think it suits you just fine."

"Really?!" I exclaim, eyes sparkling.

"Really." He smiles back at me, and then flips a bit of hair that was hanging in front of his face.

"Ooh, hair flip! Level up!" I joke. Saihara can't keep the laughter in. Eventually, he bursts out laughing too.

"I can't believe you made me laugh..." he mutters.

"Yep! I can make even you laugh, so that's saying something."

"Ah, yeah... I guess that is."

"Also," I lean over to Shuichi and whisper in his ear. "I think I found out who the mastermind is."

He literally jumps in surprise. "What?!" he whisper-talks back. "By yourself?"

"Ahah, yeah. I'll meat you at, uh..." I look at the clock on the wall. It's 4:30. "Maybe 5:00. Come to my room. I should be there."

"Mm... Okay, but don't tell me this is another one of those tricks of yours," Saihara says.

"Don't worry. I promise it's not." I put my hand atop his. "I wouldn't lie to someone like you. Really," I say. I then add, "Unless I really need to."

"That doesn't come out very believable. How am I supposed to know you aren't going to kill me?"

"You're not gonna know," I smile, putting my fingers to his lips. Then I lean over to his ear again and whisper. "If you really want evidence, ask Shirogane for her Monopad."

"Ask... okay." Saihara repeats the rest in his head, I guess. "I'll meet you then. But I'm going to tell at least one person, because..."

"No! Please don't," I exclaim, my words coming out with a little more desperation then I intended.

"Ah, why?"

"Firstly, they're going to dislike you because you're meeting up with me. Secondly, they're probably more likely to murder me too."

"Ah, okay. I guess I won't tell anybody, then, since you have evidence too. Goodbye." Saihara leaves the dining hall, leaving me by myself.

As I leave the dining hall, I sip my grape Panta and head towards my room. I had remembered something important that I plan to put in the notebook. Suddenly I feel a sharp pain from the back of my head. "Huh? Ow-!" I try to turn around to see who the hell would try doing that to me, but they grip me tight around my stomach so I can't move. "Nnnn-" Is this... when I die? As I fall unconscious, I think, _Well, at least I have my Panta with me, so I think I'll be fine._

And suddenly, my sight becomes blurrier and blurrier as I try to keep conscious. I struggle to get out, but to no avail. I've seen this enough in movies to know that this is definitely not a good feeling. _No no nonononononnono-_

_Dark._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry y'all! Kokichi isn't dead yet! (key word: yet)
> 
> Anyway, I do realize this chapter is way shorter then normal, and not a bunch happened, but that's because of the suspense of the next chapter! Is Kokichi okay? Will he reveal the mastermind? Will he tell Shuichi? Will they sleep together because of Monokuma's motive? Will Kokichi unravel the secret of the girl's bathroom? Will he finish his Panta in peace? That kind of stuff. See you.


End file.
